Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) at Nakonde border in Muchinga Province has intercepted over 1000 x 25 kilogram bags of mealie-meal.
The contraband which has since been seized was about to be smuggled into Tanzania.
This comes barely 7 days after Patriotic Front (PF) Senior District Party Officials in the border town intercepted another contraband of 40 x 25 KG bags of mealie-meal which were about to be smuggled into the neighboring country.
ZRA Assistant Commissioner of Customs at Nakonde border post Waner Chilembo confirmed the development to the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Nakonde today.
Mr. Chilembo said that an alert team of ZRA officers over the weekend intercepted a total of 1,130 x 25 KG bags of mealie meal which was about to be smuggled into Tanzania.
Mr. Chilembo said that the contraband was intercepted at the customs yard exit gate, nicely concealed under empty crates of soft drinks in the Zambian registered truck number ACH 3273.
Mr. Chilembo further disclosed that the vehicle involved which belongs to a local business man Musuku Siame has also been seized.
The Commissioner has since warned people involved in such businesses that ZRA does not only collect revenue on behalf of the Government but protects the nation as well by ensuring that it checks all the goods leaving the country.
He added that ZRA will not allow anyone to use Nakonde border for illegal businesses.
ZANIS
The biggest smuggler is APG milling,to Congo.
They should investigate the people behind this smugling of unga, if it is established that some millers are involved, which i strongly believe is the case, the millers involved should have there licence revoked, this is because the goven buys maize from farmers at high price and sales it to the millers at a cheaper price in order to mantain a relatively cheaper price for consumers, so if the miller is selling mealie meal outside, it means that that miller is stealing from our government. if millers wants to sell unga outside Zambia then they should not buy subsidized maize from GRZ, subsidized maize is meant for Zambians not Tanzanians and Congolese, whats wrong there? they cant produce enough maize??
What is MEALIE-MEAL? i couldnt find this word in the dictionary? But to me it seems people eat this stuff after making a paste, i thought its only suitable for Pigs and cows. No wonder many zambian men have big and sucking stomachs, what happened to RICE?? is it not rown in Barotse land (A western neighbour country to zambia?)
You’re a malinso for sure
Fools are not difficult to identify. Here is a big one What a wasted sperm?
This is colossal failure of common sense. Why is exporting meali meal to other countries such a crime? Oh the maize is subsidized, right? Why can’t the government get out of farm subsidize so people can grow and sell meali meal to these countries who demand our meali meal? Africans ought to think outside the box if we are to compete. Subsidies are a cancer to development especially on a poor country like Zambia. We have been doing this since the time of Kaunda and we have not learnt any lessons yet. Zambians ought to be encouraged to grow and export to any country in the world. But this can only happen when the govt stays out of business
There is nothing wrong with exporting but why are they not paying the taxes they need to pay so there is no need to smuggle it?
I dont see anything wrong why bother these business men if they can make a profit by selling to congolese or Tanzanians, why doesnt sata encourage zambians to farm more maize and feed east africa and make profit and revenue. shaaa poor thinking
If there is nothing wrong why are they not paying the taxes they need to pay so they can have no need to hide it?
Octopus, there is everything wrong with that, if you consider the economics of mealie meal or any commodity for that matter, what makes it wrong especially in the Congo case is that time and time again the government through the ministry of commerce and trade (both previous govts n the current) have tried to engage these guys to open up trade, i.e formalise trade relations but, for years now, the DRC govt through its officials has been avoiding the issus , for one simple reason, they feel the ammount they realise in extorting black marketeers is higher than what they would realise as the trade would be legal.. am not too sure if that is the case with TZ , but if that is the case, then bravo ZRA…. if we keep losing colossal sums of the commodity, naturaly the price wilk go up.
Common sense walasA
ok bafikala twatotela. you are all corrupt leeches milking on the blood of poor zambians. thats nothing, should not even in papers, should be in your work day to day, fck you