URA tightens the noose ahead of the festive season

As the festive season draws closer, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has escalated its enforcement operations nationwide, bringing renewed pressure on illicit traders who thrive on tax evasion and deception.

With intelligence guiding every move, enforcement teams are dismantling smuggling networks that have long operated under the cover of increasingly sophisticated tactics.

On Tuesday, a major breakthrough was recorded in Mayuge district when an intelligence-led operation intercepted a Subaru vehicle ferrying 1,000 undeclared Samsung smartphones.

The seizure dealt a significant blow to the illegal electronics trade and underscored URA’s growing capacity to track and intercept smugglers before contraband reaches the market.

In a separate but equally dramatic sting, URA officers foiled an elaborate rice-smuggling scheme that relied on concealment and misdirection.

Smugglers had hidden consignments of funtula rice inside cement trucks, betting on the bulky cargo to escape scrutiny.

However, acting on reliable intelligence, a surveillance team kept a discreet watch on a store in Muwayo, patiently waiting for the operation to unfold.

When the rice was eventually loaded onto a cement truck, officers moved swiftly. The truck was intercepted in Idudi and escorted to the URA station in Iganga for a thorough inspection.

Further, what appeared to be an ordinary cement haul turned out to be a carefully masked smuggling attempt—99 bags of Baraf rice, each weighing 25 kilograms, were discovered hidden inside the truck.

Both the seized goods and the vehicles used in the illegal operations are now in URA custody, as the suspects face the full force of the law.

For URA, the message is clear and uncompromising. “The long arm of the law will continue to clamp down on economic saboteurs as enforcement intensifies across the region,” said Moses Wanjala, Acting Manager of Enforcement in the Eastern Region.

As enforcement tightens and intelligence networks expand, smugglers are finding fewer places to hide.

The end of the “40 days” may well signal a new era—one in which illicit trade is increasingly met with swift detection, firm action, and accountability.