Dozens of vehicles bearing South Sudanese number plates were last week impounded by the Ugandan authorities following a two-week long joint operation targeting foreign registered motor vehicles.

In a statement on the official web page, the Uganda Revenue authority said the operation targeted foreign registered motor vehicles with red plates (tax exempted vehicles), duplicate number plates and forged ones.

It said the crackdown was “staged around the Kampala city suburbs with each location manned by 5 officers tasked to carry out the operations.

According to URA, more than 750 vehicles were verified against their profiles in the institution”s systems like E-TAX and relevant information recorded from the drivers.

The URA cited John Olowo, one of the enforcement officers as saying; “a total of 125 motor vehicles were impounded, 78 of these were foreign registered while 47 had red number plates, suggesting they were abusing duty-free exemptions.

“Most foreign registered motor vehicles are owned by Ugandans while others are owned by foreigners whose permanent residence is in Uganda especially South Sudanese,” Olowo reportedly explained.

The URA reported that, the owners of the intercepted vehicles -majority of whom are Ugandan nationals are willing to have their vehicles registered in Uganda, an idea it is supporting.

According to URA, it has so far collected  UGX 129,200,000 (USD. 34,000) in penalties while 13 vehicles have been forwarded to customs warehouse to pay taxes and register.

Out of the whole exercise, the process is projected to generate more than UGX 500,000,000 ($131805)

Meanwhile Ibrahim Bbossa, the URA Spokesperson urged car owners to adhere to EAC customs process.