Smuggled cigarettes threaten to smoke out local manufacturers

There was the possibility that the cargo was meant for another market which KRA officials could not immediately establish.

Customs corruption

Early this year, a consignment of 470 cartons of smuggled counterfeit Supermatch cigarette brand, meant for Southern Sudan, was seized at the port.  

According to Mr Kagumo, some importers collude with clearing agents and corrupt customs officials to clear smuggled goods. In some incidents, he said, a clearing agent may not be involved as they only get the documents to clear the cargo that has already arrived in the country. 

“You cannot establish the actual content of the cargo from the documents and one relies on what has been declared,” said Mr Kagumo.

He said that Kifwa has now embarked on educating its members to be more careful when dealing with importers especially those who have opened new companies by asking them details of their firms and location of their businesses.  

There are importers who are registering new companies that are discarded after importing one or two consignments, said Mr Kagumo. 

“However, KRA can easily identify the faces behind these companies since one cannot operate or even open a bank account without giving vital documents such as certificate of registration and KRA PIN certificate,” he said. 

Kifwa vice chairman Peter Mambembe said that unscrupulous importers collude with some customs official station and CFS operators, who are now handling all domestic cargo, to import counterfeit goods.

Verify contents

Some CFSs, he said, do not have sufficient equipment such as scanners to verify the content of the containers.

KRA has not arraigned in court any of those that had their containers seized this year since investigations have not been completed according to an official involved who cannot be named as he is not allowed to speak to the media.