KAMPALA – The National Bureau of Standards said it confiscated 17 commercial trucks carrying substandard and smuggled goods destined for Juba from Nimule town and Nesitu checkpoint on Wednesday.
The development comes after South Sudan and Uganda Bureau of Standards agreed on several measures to fight substandard goods being shipped between the two countries.
The Bureau’s chairperson, Dr Kuorwel Kuai Kuorwel says the institution’s technical team discovered the illegal transiting of goods through a routine examination.
Dr. Kuai says the trucks loaded with assorted goods were imported by four Juba-based suppliers.
According to him, these were suppliers from Brazil, India, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
“The truckers were imported by 4 Juba-based suppliers. These trucks originated from Brazil, India, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam,” Kuai Kuorwel told state-owned television SSBC on Wednesday.
The inspection officers at the border said out of the 17 trucks, 5 were loaded with sugar and were smuggled to Juba without laboratory examination to determine if they are safe for consumption.
“A search done by the National Bureau of Standards revealed that out of the 17 trucks, 5 trucks loaded with sugar smuggled through the Nimule border to Juba without Laboratory tests inspection as required.”
He stated that the Bureau is taking legal measures against the violators for forgery and smuggling.
“We will categorize them into three forgery and smuggling This is a clear case that a track legal procedure for those who have done that.”
