By Emmanuel Simpokolwe:
Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has said it intercepted smuggled goods worth K4 billion last year.
MRA Head of Corporate Affairs Steven Kapoloma disclosed this on Wednesday when the Defence and Security Committee of Parliament toured some of the smuggling hotspots in Mchinji District.
According to Kapoloma, the country is losing revenue to smuggling through porous borders.
He, however, said MRA would soon start using tax stamps and drones in an effort to curb smuggling in the country.
According to Kapoloma, the government introduced the tax stamps so that goods that are being imported have stamps and be allowed at the market.
“If products have no stamps, it will be an indication that they did not pass through the borders,” he said.
He said this will help to protect small and medium enterprises as well as large manufactures who are hit hard by the effects of smuggling goods from neighbouring countries.
“When everything is finalised MRA will be going flat out on the markets to confiscate goods without stamps. This is a very good system that will flash out smuggling in the country,” he said.
He also said in the next two to three months, they will start using drones to detect smuggling across the country.
He said the drones will be providing the much needed intelligence that will help officers on ground operations to be accurate and precise.
According to Kapoloma smugglers are flourishing because they are finding a market and those that are compliant by going through the borders do not find the market because they are already flooded with products from uncharted roots.
Defence and Security Committee of Parliament Chairperson, Salimu Bagus, said they are very much concerned that the government loses a lot of money through smuggling.
“We have seen that our borders are very porous; that makes it very difficult for MRA alone to deal with malpractice,” he said.
According to Bagus, their committee will soon call for a joint meeting between MRA, police and Malawi Defence Force (MDF) to find ways of dealing with smuggling in the country.
“I think if the MDF can be deployed temporarily in some of the hotspots of smuggling the tendency can be reduced,” he said.
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