Officials from the Ugandan Revenue Authority on Friday, March 17, seized a Modern Coast bus ferrying Ksh1.3 million (UGSX40 million) counterfeit currency.
Customs officers attached at the Busia border point found the money stacked in a suspicious package in the form of different notes of the Ugandan currency.
According to the officials, the load was initially declared but was afterwards cancelled manually, hence raising suspicion.
At first, the customs officials took it as a case of failing to declare possession while crossing the border. However, they became more suspicious about the legitimacy of the money after opening the package.
They later established that the money was counterfeit after conducting a scan using a machine used in banks.
“From face value, we were under the impression that the offence was a failure to declare cash, but while counting, the notes looked a little odd," a Customs Officer recounted.
"This is when we sought assistance from a bank whose hi-tech machine confirmed that the money was fake," the official added.
Consequently, the authorities arrested three suspects and seized the bus, pending further investigations.
According to the Ugandan Revenue Authority (URA), the "law on prohibited goods provides for a fine of 50 per cent of the value of items and in the case of counterfeit notes, and a penalty is an imprisonment for the suspect".
In addition, the revenue authority maintained that the Modern Coast bus was culpable for the conveyance of fake money.
The authority sounded a warning noting that it would continue to employ measures to counter tactics from economic saboteurs causing artificial inflation in Uganda's economy.
This came amid a long string of controversies surrounding the former giant of long-distance travel in East Africa. The company has seen its license cancelled several times due to accidents involving its fleet.
