Police officer on the spot over illegal check-point

Mr Nuwamanya’s ‘check-point’ office is just 1.5 kilometres from Goli Main Revenue Check point.

A police officer in Nebbi has been accused of setting up an illegal check-point.

The check-point was reportedly set up after smugglers created a footpath that leads to a bridge in Goli Trading Centre. The bridge, located at the district border, helps the smugglers take goods to and from DR Congo.

When Daily Monitor visited the area weeks back, men were carrying bags of cement and sneaking into DR Congo through the foot-path. The men are joined by women carrying sacks of charcoal and other commodities.

Some residents were carrying genuine goods but evading the customs clearance point by smuggling the goods through a foot path.

Following this illegal business, the community of Jupathombo Village recently demolished the bridge that is located 100 metres from Goli Trading Centre.

The residents accused the Officer in-Charge of Goli Custom, Mr Ben Nuwamanya, of abetting smuggling by clearing smuggled goods from both Uganda and DR Congo.

The chairperson of Jupathombo Village, Mr Richard Obote, said Mr Nuwamanya was using his room as an office to clear the goods.
Mr Nuwamanya’s ‘check-point’ office is just 1.5 kilometres from Goli Main Revenue Check point.

“We mobilised the locals to demolish the bridge after trucks he [Mr Nuwamanya] cleared resorted to using the bridge to cross into DR Congo,” Mr Obote said.

He added that the trucks are cleared at night.
However, Mr Nuwamanya said the bridge was constructed illegally by communities to ferry smuggled goods.

“Actually the idea demolishing the bridge was my initiative,” he said.
The North Western Regional Police Spokesperson, Ms Josephine Angucia, said a file of inquiry had been opened against the officer.

Inquiry ongoing
“We are not supposed to have road blocks there. He will be answerable because he is a commander there. We shall establish if other people are doing it in his name because he is a new person,” she said.

The chairman business community Goli Trading Centre, Mr Yassin Ozengi, said after receiving complaints from the communities, they approached Mr Nuwamanya and advised him to leave the area.

“We were trained by Uganda Revenue Authority on the dangers of illegal or smuggled goods to the economy, that is why we told him to stop the practice.”

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