[PHOTOS] 16 arrested in Nema crackdown on plastics

Several traders were on Wednesday arrested with plastic bags whose use was banned in the country back in 2018.

The arrests followed an ongoing nationwide crackdown by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

In Nakuru county, 10 traders were arrested in the Njoro market after they were found selling their merchandise in the banned plastic carrier bags.

"They will be arraigned in court to answer the charges. Nema continues to call on the general public to desist from using banned plastics," the authority said. 

The bags are not approved for primary packaging and those found in possession face a penalty of between Sh2 million and Sh4 million, or a jail term of between one and two years, or both.

"There will be no more warnings, no orders, we are going for prosecution in courts for the offenders using the banned plastic bags. Kenyans should stop using the bags," Nema acting Deputy Director of field operations Titus Simiyu said.

Simiyu was speaking in Busia county during an enforcement exercise that saw six traders arrested for using the banned plastic bags. 

Some 2,071 pieces of the banned material were seized from the traders who the authority said will be arraigned in court on Thursday. 

In Eldoret, officers unearthed a syndicate of major suppliers of banned plastic bags in various parts of the country including Nairobi.

The supplier was arrested after one of the suspects who was arrested in possession of the bags inside a supermaket volunteered to take the officers to the supplier in exchange for his freedom.