The Tax Authority seized two containers of hookah tobacco at the Port of Maputo last week. The cargo was discovered in an attempt to evade tax, which could have cost the state more than 26 million meticais.

The two containers held a total of more than three and a half thousand boxes of Hookah Tobacco, containing 600 units per box.

The Tax Authority (AT) assumes that the goods, which came from Durban, South Africa, were probably destined for resale in Portugal, says the portal The Country.

The AT spokesman, Fernando Tinga, explained that the seizure was due to the fact that the value of 400,000 meticais had been declared "when, in fact, around 27 million meticais should have been declared"

"The goods should have been declared for the purpose of collecting revenue, taxes and other customs duties, which was not done properly," he said.

In the first quarter of this year alone, the AT seized three containers of HookahThis is an action that harms the state.

"The customs value of the purchase and transportation in South Africa is valued at more than five million dollars.  great. Therefore, if this operation had not resulted in this outcome, the state would have lost around 26 million meticais," the source explained.

The case will go to court to hold the owner responsible. AT, on the other hand, rules out the possibility of collusion by its agents.

In the first half of this year, the institution carried out a total of more than 500 seizures across the country, with an estimated customs value of 120.4 million meticais, of which it expects to collect around 70 million meticais.