Officers from Zambia’s tax agency have foiled an attempt to smuggle petrol and ethanol in the southern border entry of Chirundu, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) spokesperson Topsy Sikalinda said the incident happened at Chirundu One Stop Border Post and involved attempts to smuggle a truck laden with petrol and another with 53 drums of ethanol.
He said the officers unearthed a scam in which clearing agents in both cases presented fake documents, with one of the documents indicating that the truck was carrying gas oil in transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo when in fact not.
“Further investigations revealed that even the name of the company used for clearing the truck is not operational as the company was last licensed during the 2013.2015 licensing cycle,” he said.
He said the government could have lost in excess of 700,000 Zambian Kwacha (about 72,917 U.S. dollars) in taxes had the smuggling succeeded. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh