Rwanda National Police (RNP) has impounded a Fuso truck with Burundian plate numbers, suspected to have been smuggled from Japan and sold in Burundi.
The successful interception was enabled by Interpol’s I-24/7 Tool which Rwanda installed at all its borders posts and enables officials to detect movement of any item that is smuggled between borders.
The truck was coming from Uganda on April 2 with goods amounting to US$13,500, including cooking oil and detergents, when it was stopped at Kanyaru Border before it crossed into Burundi from Rwanda.
“On arrival at the border post in Kanyaru, the I-24/7 Tool indicated that the truck was reported to have been smuggled from Japan. We immediately stopped it and began to conduct investigations, which led us to suspect that it was illegally shipped from Japan and sold in Burundi,” Police Spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Celestin Twahirwa, said.
“Police contacted the assumed owner of the goods that the truck was transporting; however, investigations indicated that she had hired the truck for business and was not the so-called owner. She approached us and we gave her back her goods, but investigations are ongoing.”
He added that RNP has already contacted Burundian and Japanese authorities in a bid to find the legitimate owner as well as the smuggler who is suspected of smuggling it from Japan and selling it in Burundi.
The goods’ owner, a Burundian businesswoman who preferred anonymity, commended RNP for its intolerance to crime, and urged fellow entrepreneurs to protect the business community against crime by cooperating with Police.
“I am very glad that RNP has offered me my goods, because it could have been a big loss if we had lost them. I had no idea that the truck we hired to transport goods had been smuggled and I will cooperate with Police in every way possible in the investigations,” she said.
With the aid of Interpol I-24/7, RNP was able to intercept 10 smuggled cars since 2014; among which include a Range Rover Sport V8 which was impounded at the Rusizi Border Post on its way to DRC after being smuggled from the United Kingdom.
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