Overview:
The major brands intercepted were Super Match, Oris, Dunhill, Business Royal and Sportsman cigarettes
Besides collecting revenue, one of the roles of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Department of Customs is protection of society against harmful imports and facilitation of trade through creation of a level trading ground for all legitimate traders.
This is the reason why the Customs enforcement team set out in the last two years to comb the areas of Kampala, Elegu, Arua, Madi Opei, Pakwach, Corner Kamdini and seized more than 293,099 cartons of illicit cigarettes valued at UGX 1.219b
The major brands intercepted were Super Match, Oris, Dunhill, Business Royal and Sportsman cigarettes.
These impounded cigarettes were deposited at the Customs warehouse in Kampala for due processing which culminated in their destruction in Nakasongola.
Abel Kagumire, the URA Commissioner Customs, noted during the engagement that more smuggled goods will be destroyed in order to rid the market of other prohibited or restricted products such as dangerous cosmetics, polythene bags, used computers and fridges among others.
The destruction process, according to Kagumire, is intended to create awareness against illegal products and unfair trade. It is a deterrent to perpetrators who engage in high risk trade.
Meanwhile, Uganda is a free market economy where Government intervenes to ensure fair trade and protect the legitimacy of trade.
The genuine producers like British America Tobacco (BAT) and Leaf Tobacco that have made revenue contributions amounting to UGX 275.123Bn & UGX. 83.869b respectively during the three-year period 2019-2021 need to be protected.
For URA, with the implementation of the Digital Tracking Solution, it is hoped that this an additional mechanism to net illegitimate trade.
For example, with DTS, there is transparency in the outputs of the manufacturing process from industrial production lines and the tracking and tracing of manufactured products. This will in the long run curb substandard goods thus protecting legitimate local manufacturers against the trade in illicit and counterfeit products.
Illicit traders have been estimated to cost Uganda UGX. 30Bn annually through Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) as they siphon the ill-gotten money out of the country.