MRA to wrestle smugglers with drone surveillance

The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has assured the business community and the public that cases of smuggling will come to a halt very soon as the Authority is in the process of procuring drones to deal with the problem.

The sentiments were made recently by Mr. John Biziwick, the Commissioner General of MRA, when Chibuku Products Limited had an audience with him.

The Commissioner General hinted that seeing that smugglers were always elusive when illegally importing goods into the country, MRA had adopted a new technology to counter their moves.

“With this new and modern technology in place, I assure you that MRA will be able to see and detect smugglers and conveyance wherever they are and catch them,” he added.

On this note, he informed the visitors that MRA was imposing heavy penalties to those caught illegally importing goods into the country and this had significantly reduced cases of smuggling.

Speaking earlier through a prepared presentation, Mr. Gerald Bowler, Managing Director for Chibuku Products Limited, lamented that his brewery was facing a lot of challenges that had resulted in the loss of market share and profit.

He attributed this to rampant smuggling of illicit clear and opaque beer from neighbouring countries and uncompetitive excise rate imposed on traditional beer in the country.

He, therefore, urged MRA to intervene.