•The intercepted ethanol has a tax value of Sh4.15 million and was destined to Nairobi.
•The lead suspect in the scam is said to be generous with the police and owns a chain of alcoholic outlets in the sub county.
Image: FILE
Police officers on Saturday evening intercepted 13,500 litres of ethanol with a tax value of more than Sh4.15 million at the Kenya-Tanzania border in Loitokitok.
The sleuths from the Department of Criminal Investigations, led by their newly posted boss, David Wanjama, intercepted two trucks at an illegal border entry.
The drivers of the trucks and a prominent Kimana town trader, with alcoholic outlets in Kajiado South sub-county and outside, were arrested and locked up at Loitokitok police station.
The consignment, packaged in fifty-four 250-litre plastic containers, was concealed under rice husks and sweet melons aboard the trucks, headed to the Kenyan side from Tanzania.
The Kenya Revenue Authority officials came from the Illasit border control, the official exit/entry point, and said documents on the said trucks indicated they left the country to Tanzania on Friday, November 15.
“Officially, as per our records, these trucks are supposed to be in Tanzania and have not been cleared back to the country,” said an official at Loitokitok police.
Police were forced to hire labourers to download the tons of sweet melons and rice husks that had been used to conceal the drums carrying ethanol.
One senior police officer who spoke to the Star at the scene said rice husks are used to mask any smell of leaked ethanol while on transit.
Had the consignment found its way into Kenya unnoticed, according to KRA officials, the government stood to lose more than Sh2.83 million in excise duty and close to Sh1.32 million in customs taxes.
This brings the total revenue that the government stood to lose to Sh4.15 million.
KRA, in partnership with law enforcement agencies, has initiated investigations to determine the actual source of the consignment and the intended destination.
Those arrested, the police said, would be arraigned on Monday in Loitokitok Law Court.
Present at the police station was local deputy county commissioner Lawrence Kinyua. The area OCPD, Robert Muli, was away during the interception.
Earlier, when media representatives in Loitokitok got wind of the arrest and interception of the ethanol, journalists rushed to the police station but received a rude shock when their phones and cameras were confiscated by armed policemen.
Before the journalists could alight from their car, police officers in civilian clothes led by Wanjama, arm-twisted and pulled out of the car a local journalist from County News, Philip Tianda, even after he produced his identification card.
“Even if you are journalists, you are not allowed to enter a police station without asking for permission. Who sent you here?” Wanjama yelled as he confiscated Tianda’s cameras and phone.
When the other journalists protested, the officers demanded they should first seek permission from the OCPD, who was said to be away.
Another senior officer (a police inspector) from Loitokitok later alleged the reason the journalists were being chased away was that they wanted to negotiate with the accused.
“I was tipping you about the arrest, I knew this issue would have been concealed. This woman (the owner of the two trucks intercepted) has had long relations with our bosses and it was their (officers) time to reap,” said the officer.