URA enforcement team at Entebbe International Airport have intercepted 448 mobile phones worth over US$76,704 in a string of operations targeting illicit trade.
According to the Assistant Commissioner for Public and Corporate Affairs Robert Kalumba, the seizures underscore a growing trend of phone smuggling into the country as perpetrators attempt to evade legal taxes.
In one case, smugglers recruited a terminal cleaner in an inside job designed to bypass traditional security checks. In a cramped restroom stall, the cleaner received high‑value smartphones and hid 40 of them in her underwear in a bid to slip past enforcement. Her rigid, unnatural gait immediately aroused suspicion, and an enforcement officer intercepted her and ordered a mandatory isolation search, recovering all the concealed phones.
In another operation, officers dismantled a sophisticated black‑market pipeline allegedly operating from the airport’s premium lounge. Acting on intelligence, they intercepted a traveler posing as an elite VIP passenger. A thorough search of the suspect’s luxury luggage uncovered 60 high‑end smartphones, effectively crippling the syndicate’s activities.
Kalumba said all the intercepted consignments have been seized and offence management is underway.
Waiver
Meanwhile, the URA Commissioner General (CG) John Musinguzi has urged taxpayers to take advantage of URA’s ongoing tax waiver program instead of engaging in smuggling and other illegal practices. Under the waiver, URA is eliminating 100% of accrued interest and penalties for taxpayers who clear all outstanding principal domestic taxes (as of June 30, 2024) by June 30, 2026.
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