Police are investigating contents of suspected illicit brew impounded from a saloon car in Mlolongo.
The police said a consignment of dozens of cartons of the brew was found in an abandoned car at a petrol station in Athi River.
They said the driver of the car abandoned the vehicle after he sighted police presence.
“Sixty-five unlabeled cartons each containing 20 bottles of 250m were recovered. The case is pending under investigation,” police said in a statement.
The seizure comes just days after over 10 people died after consuming illicit brew at a village in Mwea, Kirinyaga County.
At least four others were reported blind after they consumed the illicit liquor on Monday last week.
Residents responded by storming the bar on Wednesday, destroying property and setting the building ablaze.
On Thursday, the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) warned Kenyans against consuming brews whose quality cannot be verified.
“From preliminary reports, the deaths occurred as a result of consumption of an unidentified substance whose contents are yet to be established,” Chief Executive Anthony Omerikwa said in a statement.
Kirinyaga Health CEC George Karoki said from symptoms exhibited by the victims, the brew may have been laced with ethanol, an industrial chemical that can damage the nervous system, including the eye nerves, upon consumption.
A police officer who spoke to a local publication claimed the illicit brew had been stored as an exhibit at a police station but was sold on Sunday night by rogue officers.
Mwea East Deputy County Commissioner Teresiah Wanjiku said Monday last week cited frustration in their efforts to prosecute cases involving the sale of illicit brews.
"Most of the cases have not been successful especially the case on ethanol which we confiscated in a homestead and we were told to produce the apparatus for the manufacturers and I don't know which ones are expected for that case because ethanol you just mix with water and that's all," she said.
Wanjiku said they were considering moving the cases to a court in Wang'uru in Nyeri.
