Businessman Vanishes After Govt Confiscates Ksh 17M Contraband at Mombasa Port

Police have launched a manhunt for a businessman accused of importing contraband value Ksh17 million through the Mombasa Port. 

In keeping with the police, the businessman vanished after the products, alleged to be pesticides, had been confiscated by the Kenya Pest Management Merchandise Board (PCPB) officers. 

Talking to the press on Friday, Fredrick Muchiri, PCPB chairman, defined that the 22-tonne cargo container arrived within the nation from China. 

Following an inspection carried out by PCPB officers, the merchandise had been, nonetheless, discovered to be hazardous to people and the surroundings at massive.

“These are poisonous substances and they’re meant to kill, they don’t have any indications, and it has not been verified, no person is aware of what it’s, we’re solely discovering them right here,” Fredrick Muchiri chairman of PCPB said.

The cargo has since been moved to the port storage facility because the board strikes to determine the product and stop it from coming into the Kenyan market.

“We now have skilled some little consignments of the identical, however this one is without doubt one of the main imports that we focused for verification,” Stanley Ng’ang’a, an inspector at PCPB added. 

The board additionally raised considerations over unlicensed merchants particularly hawkers who’re focused to provide the flagged merchandise to unsuspecting shoppers. 

“Should you transfer round Likoni, you can find hawkers with bits of merchandise, which can be unlawful however we’re nonetheless searching for the massive fish,” Muchiri clarified.

He additional warned that the board would launch a crackdown on hawkers discovered promoting counterfeit objects on the streets.

Muchiri, nonetheless, clarified that in case the importer of the products was untraceable, the cargo could be shipped again to the nation of origin.

Kenya’s Customs and Train Act requires one to declare the kind of items they intend to carry into or in another country and is thus subjected to inspections.

“The proprietor of the products previous to exportation gave discover thereof in writing to the correct officer and produced the products for inspection by him on the port or place from which they had been exported.”