adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has reportedly come up with a 100 percent search programme on cargo following an acute increase in cases of smuggling.The development which went into effect last week has also resulted in a decrease in the movement of north-bound traffic.
It is understood that the searches went into effect following the arrival of two mobile scanners and a team of Zimra officers from the loss control department.
An average of six vehicles are being impounded by Zimra for smuggling per day.
The team is said to have been unleashed to most ports of entry following repeated reports of incidents of smuggling.
The revenue authority’s director for legal and corporate affairs Florence Jambwa was unavailable for comment yesterday but a senior Zimra official at the border post said that they had intensified searches after realising that the authority was losing a lot of revenue through smuggling.
“We are currently working with two mobile scanners one on the exit and entry side. The other two new scanners are yet to be used since we don’t have adequate manpower at the moment,” said the official.
The source added that the 100 percent search programme was meant to ensure compliance among travellers.
“Our main objective is to make sure that the travelling public complies with the country’s customs laws,” added the official.
Zimra’s regional manager for Beitbridge border post Adrian Suarez told students from the National Defence College during a tour of the facility last year that smuggling was rampant at the border post.
He said that on the export side, cigarettes were the main product that was being smuggled while banned foodstuffs which are genetically modified especially chickens and potatoes formed the bulk of items that were being smuggled into the country.
“We also have a problem of smuggling of other items which were outside the travellers rebate such as clothing items, blankets and electrical gadgets such as refrigerators and stoves,” he said.
Suarez also said on the imports side, they were seizing between three and six vehicles per day trying to smuggle potatoes, blankets or chickens.
Online Reporter