At least 1,685 cartons equivalent to 16.8 million sticks of illegally imported cigarettes worth Shs 1.6 billion in value have been seized by government in the last six months, URA has said.
URA revealed on Wednesday that the illegally imported cigarettes have cost government Shs 2.5 billion in tax revenue.
The bulk of the contraband was seized from Malaba, Busia, Busitema border posts as well as in Kampala.
According to statistics provided by URA, of the seized cigarettes, 1,340 cartons worth Shs 1.3 billion were from Malaba border post, 143 cartons worth Shs 143 million from Busia and 115 cartons worth Shs 115 million from Busitema.
The others were seized from Mbale (15 cartons equivalent to Shs 15 million), Oraba (12 cartons – Shs 12 million), Jinja (10 cartons – Shs 10 million) and Fort Portal (9 cartons – Shs 9 million).
Meanwhile, the tax body has arrested three men including one suspected to be the key smuggler of the said cigarettes. The three were found with smuggled Supermatch cigarettes measuring to 3,628 bombas (about 80 cartons) valued at over Shs 65 million.
The man identified as Yeko Francis Were along with two of his drivers were captured by URA enforcement officers and two of his vehicles that were used to transport the illegal cigarettes impounded.
According to URA’s Assistant Commissioner for Public and Corporate Affairs, Vincent Seruma, a vehicle which showed suspicious traits was intercepted in Kalerwe triggering leads to Francis.
He is said to own several cars that have been distributing the untaxed Supermatch branded cigarettes in Uganda. URA through its intelligence and interrogation was led to a place in Kisasi which is considered to be the consolidation centre for this cigarette contraband.
The suspects will subsequently forfeit their two vehicles (Toyota Premios: Reg No UBB 151X and UBB 499C) to the state while the impounded cigarettes will be destroyed.
Francis and the other two suspects will face charges of carrying uncustomed goods, which attract a penalty of 3 years imprisonment upon conviction.
Impact of illegal cigarettes
URA says that the smuggling of cigarettes into the country has far reaching harm especially on the local manufacturers of cigarettes as well as the farmers of tobacco who risk losing market to unfair foreign competition.
This is on top of depriving the country of huge sums of money in taxes that would have been raised from cigarettes imports. In 2017 alone, Uganda generated Shs 74 billion in taxes from imported cigarettes, according to Agnes Nabwire, the Assistant Commissioner for Enforcement.
Seruma revealed that the cigarettes are sneaked into the country through mischievous means mainly due to the high taxes imposed on imported cigarettes.
“Cigarettes are high value products for Uganda and any smuggling has a significant impact on the revenue we collect,” Seruma said.
As a result, the tax body has invested highly in intelligence sources in order to curb the vice.
“Once here, these cigarettes are sold cheaply which affects local producers. This vice does not only risk industrialization, but also the society because young students are smoking these cigarettes due to the cheap cost. There is no guarantee of the quality too,” Nabwire added.
