The KRA has unearthed a consignment of smuggled ethanol declared as imported spaghetti at the Inland Container Depot, Nairobi.
The consignment, imported from the UAE with an assessed tax valued of more than Sh15 million, had been concealed in four 20-foot containers that had arrived at the Kenya Ports Authority operated depot in Nairobi. A team of customs and border control officers pulled off the sting operation.
Customs and Border Control commissioner Kevin Safari said his officers identified and isolated the contraband ethanol. The 57,600 litres of ethanol had been neatly filled into 288 drums then loaded in the four containers.
Using advanced cargo X-ray scanners at the ICDN, Safari said, the team noted some discrepancy and demanded physical inspection yesterday.
“The officers at ICDN near Athi River in conjunction with the team at the Integrated Scanner Management Solution command centre at our Times Towers headquarters positively identified the concealed goods in the containers,” Safari said.
He added, “The containers imported by Ms Erikan Holdings Limited had been masked with a total of 10,600 packages of spaghetti.”
Following the discovery, KRA officers in conjunction with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations launched a probe against the importers and the clearing agent.
As part of its corporate transformation, KRA has implemented an Integrated Scanner Management Solution which is part of the ongoing rollout of Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS), and interconnects all cargo scanners (at Ports of entry) to a Central Command & Control Centre at Times Tower, the KRA headquarters from where enforcement decisions are coordinated.
