BURS, police say locals aid smuggling
Chakalisa Dube | Thursday March 27, 2014 12:36
At a workshop on smuggling on Tuesday, the authorities said smugglers scheme with locals to transport goods into Botswana. They said Batswana who aid smugglers are transporters, mostly taxi drivers and truckers with permits to transport goods in return of payment.
Some members of the public also transport smuggled goods into the country. Smuggling cases mostly take place during the night when taxi drivers deviate from their normal routes to transport illegal goods.
The police and BURS officials say the situation is getting worse with the number of smugglers showing a steady increase in recent years.
The smuggled goods are mainly cigarettes manufactured in Zimbabwe.
BURS officials however said that second hand bikinis and body creams are now finding their way into the country illegally in large volumes from Ramokgwebana border post.
“I however do not have the figures to ascertain that, but the amount at which second hand bikinis and creams have recently been entering the country illegally is a concern to us,” BURS customs manager in Francistown, Catherine Lephojane said at the workshop.
The police said that in most smuggling cases, they have recorded Batswana taxi drivers, truckers and some members of the public who have been used as transporters of illegal items for a fee. Detective Assistant Commissioner, Oabitsa Rankwaila told the workshop that Batswana should desist from aiding smugglers with transport. “All Batswana should be crime fighting agents,” he said.
Last year alone, Francistown police recorded 39 cases of smuggling, an increase by eight compared to 2012.
From April to date BURS recorded 207 cases of smuggling.
Though Lephojane did not have statistics from recent years, she maintained that the number of cases recorded is high considering the loss in financial terms.
“We lose a lot of money in duty tax from goods that enter the country illegally,” she stated. She said there are habitual smugglers who make the BURS and police work difficult.
“It does not matter what kind of fine or punishment is given to them. They continue to smuggle goods, especially cigarettes into the country in large numbers which makes our job difficult,” Lephojane said.
The Bus and Taxi Drivers’ Association chairperson Tymon Matebesi promised that they will work hand in hand with the police and the Department of Transport officials to smoke out drivers who assist smugglers.
Officials from the truckers’ association who attended the workshop also promised to cooperate with the authorities in the fight against smuggling and create awareness about the implications of aiding smugglers.
Principal transport officer, Rebaabetswe City Keatholetswe said that they will do their best to create awareness about the implications of violating transport permits by taxi and truck drivers.
“We will fight to make sure that all transport operators with our permits are clean,” he said.
Smuggling has been a problem to Francistown police for years.
In June 2012, Tshesebe police shot one Zenzo Sibanda near the Ramokgwebana border as he attempted to smuggle cigarettes into Botswana.
He was believed to be with two other men who disappeared during the shooting. The 39 year-old Sibanda was from Siviya, a village near the Ramokgwebana border. Media reports then said he was well known in the area for his smuggling activities.
His death sparked a lot of controversy as many claimed that he was in cahoots with some corrupt police officers to traffic cigarettes into the country.
The officers who shot and killed Sibanda were said have been acting on a tip-off from a villager who saw him loading boxes of cigarettes in the bush.