The Uganda Revenue Authority and the Uganda Police have agreed to collaborate in addressing the issue of duplicate number plates being used to facilitate crime in Uganda.

This was agreed upon in a meeting held recently at the URA headquarters in Nakawa.

URA’s intelligence team gathered extensive information on over 6,000 duplicate number plates acquired through improper procedures. As a result, some car owners have been arrested and handed over to the customs enforcement team to ensure the unpaid taxes are recovered.

In response to the findings, URA’s Commissioner General wrote to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for support, leading to the initiation of a joint operation. The IGP instructed the Director of Traffic to work with URA to counter these threats.

The two teams recently met to discuss how to best implement this initiative.

Julius Nkwasire, the Assistant Commissioner of the Intelligence Division at URA, urged the team to ensure that taxpayers with genuine number plates are not inconvenienced during the joint operation.

He added that proper communication procedures between URA and Traffic Police should be implemented to expedite the identification and removal of cars with fake number plates from the system.

The delegation from police was led by Commissioner of Police Traffic Operations, CP Ben Mubangizi, and Commander of Kampala Metropolitan Traffic Police, SSP Arinaitwe Godwin.

By Irene Kabakama