By Kato Jamil
A team of URA enforcement officers have recovered assorted goods that were smuggled into Kampala’s business hotspot, Kikuubo. The team confiscated over 150 bags of Mijaji tobacco worth UGX 700 million, Oris cigarettes, and wines that were impounded from only three stores in an operation towards disbanding illicit trade.
The goods were picked from Kikuubo Lane, Capital Quest Distributors, Kananura Building ground floor, with additional contraband picked from stores in H-08 and H-07 in Nabugabo Business Centre.
URA occasionally destroys contraband health-damaging goods that are intercepted from such operations. From this recovery, the total weight of cigarettes and tobacco to be destroyed was 8034.2kgs and while 821.4 litres of wine and beer will also be destroyed. The confiscated goods will also pay over UGX 70 million in both taxes and fines.
Kikuubo is a well-known business hub that has both legitimate and illicit traders. Dealers like the ones caught recently often exploit the high demand for cheaper, untaxed goods, such as counterfeit alcohol and smuggled cigarettes, which bypass customs duties and regulations. These contraband goods are typically imported illegally, sometimes through neighbouring countries or via porous borders, and then distributed in popular market areas like Kikuubo.
For example, the team at the Gulu Logistics hub on Thursday 04th December 2024 recovered over 63 cartons (3,125 bombas) of Supermatch cigarettes from a habitual smuggler in Layibi. The same Jane was on 19th November implicated in a cigarette smuggling case where 34 cartons of cigarettes (1,700 bombas) were confiscated by URA. The driver of the then car said Jane was the contraband owner. Even in this week’s case, the workers found at the consolidation centre (the home) noted in their statement that they were only organizing the goods to load them onto a waiting Noah under Jane’s orders. The said Jane has since disappeared and is being looked for by the law enforcement officers.
In another operation, the enforcement team at Oraba intercepted 15 cartons of Oris slim apple cigarettes loaded onto a motorcycle on Thursday 05th December.
Mijaji, a type of illicit tobacco, is often produced under unregulated conditions, posing severe health risks, including poisoning, due to unsafe ingredients or improper distillation processes. Similarly, counterfeit or smuggled cigarettes and wines may contain harmful substances or may not meet health and safety standards.
The trade in contraband goods also heavily impacts on the economy because the government loses out on significant tax revenue which affects public service delivery and economic development. Legitimate local alcohol producers and importers, tobacco companies, and wineries are at a competitive disadvantage when faced with contraband products that are sold at lower prices.
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