Rwanda National Police

Revenue Protection Unit (RPU) have impounded a vehicle in Rubavu District after it was intercepted loaded with 19 bales of smuggled second-hand clothes.

The vehicle registration number RAA 012V, Toyota Hilux type was intercepted at a snap-check mounted on October 22, in Rugerero Sector. The vehicle was headed to Kigali.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Innocent Gasasira, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that the Revenue Protection Unit (RPU) mounted a snap-check in response to smuggling rings that use Rubavu-Kigali axis especially from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The vehicle was loaded with 19 bales of second-hand clothes weighing 855kgs. The driver identified as Innocent Sezirahiga, 39, and another man on board called Christopher Nyandwi, 27, were also taken into custody,” CIP Gasasira said.

According to RPU, the smugglers had evaded taxes worth over Rwf2.6 million.

“By law, the vehicle used in smuggling or fraud is impounded and auctioned while the driver and the tax defaulter face varied penalties,” CIP Gasasira said.

Under article 199 of the East African Community Management Act, which is also applied in Rwanda, any driver caught in such fraudulent means is slapped a fine of US$5, 000 while the vehicle and the goods are auctioned.

The tax defaulter, however, faces a penalty of up to ten times the value of the evaded tax.

The recent report by RPU indicates that over Rwf354 million in taxes were recovered in the first quarter of the 2018/2019 fiscal year.