The RRA Anti-Smuggling Unit, on Wednesday, arrested three men who had smuggled 796 bottles of liquor worth more than 30 million Rwandan Francs. The culprits included Turyahabwe Geoffrey, 29, Mujyakera Gerard, 24, and his colleague, Ronald, also 24. They used tricks to hide in their homes liquors that don’t bear any tax stamps, implying that they were smuggled into the country. Geoffrey Turyaharwe was found with 468 bottles and his counterpart Gerard Mujyakera with 261 bottles of liquor. The suspects indicated that they have been involved in the illegal trade for more than a year and have been supplying various busineses around Kigali. It is suspected that a number of traders use this smuggling racket to smuggle liquor into the country and distrubute to various liquor stores, supermarkets, bars and other places around the country thereby dodging payment of taxes as well as distorting trade as smuggled liquors are usually sold cheaply. During the parade of the suspects to the media, RRA urged all liquor dealers/traders, be it liquor stores, supermarkets, bars and others, to resist the temptation of liquor smuggling because they have put in place measures to fight against fraud and smuggling, and anyone who will indulge in these practices will be severely punished. The Deputy Commissioner for Revenue Investigation and Enforcement Department at RRA, Charles Kagame, affirmed that every Rwandan should be at the forefront in the fight against smuggling because it hinders the country’s development, as well as business in general. It has been like a plague lately, there is a surge in numbers of smugglers who use various tricks to bring liquor into the country without paying taxes. That is why we have also heightened our investigation and enforcement measures, and indeed, a large number of them have been caught in this scam and charged for their crimes, he said. The Tax Administration revealed that liquor smuggling has intensified lately, justifying the significant increase in number of liquor stores around Kigali city and the country at large. The management therefore calls for everyones collaboration in combating this plague, especially by reporting anyone found dealing in liquor that has no tax stamp, or those that have fake stamps. You can prove a fake or genuine tax stamp by scanning the code using an application downloadable from Play Store. Statistics show that from June 2020 to July 2021, 2,589 smuggling activities were reported, and the Government would have lost more than Rwf 1.7 billion, if the culprits had not been arrested. The East African Community Customs Act, in its Article 202, stipulates that a person convicted of smuggling goods in any form, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine equal to fifty percent of the value of the goods involved.
