MOZAMBIQUE: SMUGGLING/RM/30/1/19 SABANews 1
MAPUTO – The MOZAMBIQUE Revenue Authority says it has detained an assortment of goods that include food, phones, and motor vehicles smuggled into the country.
RADIO MOZAMBIQUE says the agency has carried out an operation in the districts of ZOBUE CUCHAMANO, on the border with ZAMBIA, as well as in CHANGARA and MOATIZE, which border MALAWI.
It quotes the Revenue Authority TETE Provincial Officer as saying they have seized SEVEN cars, a number of cell-phones, about 19-THOUSAND tonnes of sugar, THREE bales of used clothing, 16 packs of soda, 67 tyres, and other loose items.
ÂMIDO ABDALA says many people resort to covert cross-border activities largely because they cannot afford to pay for travel documents, border taxes, work permits, as well as import and trade licenses.
He says officials in TETE Province have adaunting task to monitor the movement of goods and people at THREE major boundaries with ZAMBIA and MALAWI.
He names the frontiers as CUCHAMANO in CHANGARA District; ZOBUE in MOATIZE; CASSACATIZA in CHIFUNDE District; CALOMUE, which also borders MALAWI, in ANGONIA District.
However, Mr ABDALA says poachers and smugglers have virtually destroyed the boundary fence by cutting it or even digging trenches underneath.
MOZAMBIQUE has for years being struggling to bring sanity to its borders amid a concoction of crimes like illegal migration, human trafficking, armed banditry, poaching, and smuggling.
Defence Minister ATANÁSIO M’TUMUKE had to meet his TANZANIAN counterpart, HUSSEIN MWINYI, last year to come up with a joint operation plan to fight cross-border crimes.
Their discussions in the South-eastern TANZANIA town of MTWARA came after a wave of attacks against civilians and security posts by armed gangs in the CABO DELGADO Region of Northern MOZAMBIQUE.
The previous year had seen at least 100 people – including civilians, members of the security forces, as well as suspected bandits, killed in violent clashes in the area.
Media reports say the wave of violence in CABO DELGADO broke out after a group from a local mosque attacked police stations in MOCÍMBOA DA PRAIA District in OCTOBER 2017.
Since then, Northern MOZAMBIQUE has recorded many cross-border crimes that continue to worry the State at a time when the country is fighting to recover its economy and harvest the abundant natural resources it has./Sabanews/cam