Traders in Turkana selling underweight commodities risk losing their business licences, the county government has warned.
The trade department said unscrupulous businessmen were minting millions of shillings from the public through sale of commodities with less quantity than required.
Director of trade James Lokwale cautioned retail and wholesale traders, particularly those dealing in cereals, to desist from selling underweight pre-packed goods to consumers.
Lokwale put on notice business people he said were fleecing customers by selling goods in quantities less than those laid down by market standards.
"We will take stern action, including withdrawal of trade licenses of business premises involved in such unfair trade practices," he warned.
Lokwale singled out fuel stations, gas sellers, supermarkets and butcheries as some of the service points where consumers were most fleeced.
He said there were at least three fuel stations in Lodwar town where the vice was rampant as the owners tampered with measuring machines, resulting in fuel pumps dispensing less fuel to unsuspecting motorists.
He said the department of weights and measures had planned impromptu visits to business premises suspected to be practicing the vice.
Last week, officials from the department stopped and detained four trucks in Kanamkemer carrying 725 bags of maize and beans below recommended weights.
The officials also stormed several retail shops including a chicken feeds store where they found two underweight bags of chicken mash.
Amos Erupe, the department's senior administrative officer who led the raid, said the truck drivers revealed identities of business outlets involved in the racket.
He encouraged consumers to report retail traders who were using magnets to pull down their weighing scales.
Edited by Henry Makori
