Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has penalized Price Index Company Ltd (an importer), and CEVA Logistics after it detected a 60% cargo theft from their bond before verification.

Brian Ahimbiimsibwe, the Supervisor of Non-Intrusive Inspection-Central Command Monitoring Centre (CCMC) at URA said that, the duo was fined a total of UGX 197,626,456 million in taxes and penalties.

Ahimbisibwe said that, the penalty follows an incident where a 40-foot container was offloaded in a CEVA Logistics warehouse prior to physical verification.

“The container was scanned upon arrival at the Malaba One Stop Border Post (OSBP), and the scanner image indicated a full container load with bedsheets and towels,” Ahimbisibwe said.

According to Ahimbisibwe, the quantities declared on the customs declaration in terms of square meters were too low for the container and scanner image.

“The irregularity was detected by analysts, who then sent a risk alert to enforcement and warehousing management teams for action,” he added.

He said that, the container was weighed when it arrived at the warehouse, and it was determined to contain 24,480 kg but was later found half empty, with 13,860 kg of cargo missing when the agent and the owner of the goods appeared for verification of the cargo.

Ahimbisibwe advised customs officers to utilize scanner images before, during, and after verification for reconciliation purposes, adding that, NII scanners offer a comprehensive view of the cargo which allows inspectors to identify hidden compartments, contraband, and undeclared or falsely declared goods that might otherwise go undetected during traditional inspections.

“With the re-engineered NII-CCMC alerts management process, where examination findings are cross-matched with the NII scanner images, fraudulent activities are easily detected,” he noted.

The case was forwarded to Revenue Intelligence for further investigation.

URA has advised bonds to weigh all consignments before physical verification to account for the weight at arrival.