RRA gets anti-smuggling speed boats

The Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has obtained two speed boats to facilitate its anti-smuggling campaign along Lake Kivu. According to the Director of Tax payer Services, Gerald Nkusi Mukubu, the boats will be used top patrol the lake. “The speed boats arrived at Mombasa port and by the end of this month they will be in the country.” “On arrival they will immediately start the operation because for long, smuggling has been hurting revenue collection and Lake Kivu is a big penetration area of various products. We are therefore optimistic that this development will strengthen our anti-smuggling campaign in this area,” he said. Over the years, the treasury has been losing millions to racket smugglers who operate along this lake. “Every month we impound close to 100 cartons of liquor,” Eugene Torero, RRA Deputy Commissioner General once told The New Times. As a result of this illicit trade, the Revenue Protection Department, an anti-smuggling arm of RRA, has since stepped up the crackdown on smuggling. Mukubu also identified cigarettes and powdered milk among the other major smuggled goods. Lake Kivu, in the western part of the country is shared between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. Ends

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RRA gets anti-smuggling speed boats