A total of 1 362 cartons of illegal, impounded Zimbabwean cigarettes worth R5,7 million were destroyed by the South African Revenue Services (SARS) at Beitbridge border post on Tuesday.

The SARS Beitbridge Branch Manager, Ms Gugulethu Africa, said the contraband was impounded at the border post by the SARS Anti-Smuggling team. She said the truck drivers were also arrested on Tuesday after their truck was intercepted at the border post. The truck had 785 maste cartons of Zimbabwean cigarettes, branded Remington Gold. They were each fined R10 000. However, the third suspect fled and is now on the run. A SARS official, who allegedly assisted the suspects, was also fired on Tuesday.

"We burnt 1 362 cartons of counterfeit cigarettes, which we had impounded from smugglers at the Beitbridge border post. As SARS, we destroyed the contraband in line with the country’s Customs and Excise Act because these contrabands are flooding our country and, in the process, destroying our economy.We urge people not to buy them," Ms Africa said.

One the trucks was intercepted at a roadblock along the N1 Highway by the SARS anti-smuggling team. "We have a monitoring and tracking system called ICRAS Risk analyzing system, which complements our anti-smuggling team in nabbing the smugglers," she said.

Africa said, recently, six SARS officials at the Beitbridge border post were dismissed for allegedly facilitating the smuggling of cigarettes into the country.

According to SARS, an average of about 2 000 cigarettes are being impounded at Beitbridge border post every two months, with the government losing more than R30 million through tax evasions due to smuggling.

In an effort to curb the illegal practice, SARS will soon acquire scanners. The machines are able to detect sealed contents in a container. Africa said they will also target other commodities such as confectionaries and liquor which find their way into South Africa illegally.

"As SARS, we would like to send a clear message to the culprits that we will intensify the fight against the smuggling of illegal commodities into South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post," Africa said.

In an effort to instill discipline among its staff members, SARS has introduced an internal ethics unit, which strives to ensure that staff members adhere to the stipulated code of conduct within the organization. In the event of someone committing an offence, the suspect is hauled before a disciplinary committee before a criminal case is eventually opened.

Africa conceded that corruption within SARS was a challenge and urged other government departments and agencies to complement them in fighting the practice. "As managers, we have a challenge to deal with some of our rogue officials who continue to engage in corrupt activities by accepting bribes from smugglers, and that in itself calls for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to assist SARS. We therefore say there is need to form a strong partnership with other government agencies and departments," she said.

Last year, in November, two SARS officials at the border post were suspended for corruption and one of them was subsequently fired, while the other one’s case is still pending.

The smuggling of cigarettes from the neighboring Zimbabwe into South Africa continues to take it toll.

Meanwhile, SARS recently joined the rest of the world in celebrating the World Customs Day on 25 January amid concerted efforts to fight smuggling.