Police seize counterfeit alcohol worth Sh3.8million in Machakos county, 16 suspects arrested
Sixteen suspects have been arrested and illicit liquor worth Sh3.8million seized during an operation conducted by police in Machakos county.
Officers from the National Police Service (NPS), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the national government administration raided a private godown located at Kathekakai area along the Nairobi-Machakos road and arrested the suspects after getting a tip-off from members of the public.
County police boss Issa Mohammud stated that they had put surveillance in the area for the last three days.
“We have for the last three days put surveillance in this area, especially this godown because operations were ongoing here late in the night and early morning hours, ” Mohammud said.
“Yesterday (Friday) at 8.00 pm we broke a window and scaled the perimeter wall using a ladder to gain access only to find that this is a complete factory for distilling second-generation liquor, ” Mohammud said.
Mohammud also said that the 16 suspects arrested constituted of drivers who had gone to pick up consignment and workers.
He also said that the godown formerly used to be a bakery before it was transformed into a distillation factory.
He noted that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) were helping with investigations and confirmed that police had seized counterfeit liquor that had fake exercise duty stamps and KEBS stamps with similar serial numbers.
He said KRA had lost more than Sh2million in revenue and taxes to the illicit trade.
“The government is losing revenue. The content of this thing hasn’t been satisfied hence unsafe for human consumption,” Mohammud said.
Mohammud said most of the illicit liquor from the unlawful distiller was sold in Kitengela and Mlolongo towns in Kajiado and Machakos counties respectively.
Some were distributed in clubs and bars in the Central region.
He said out of the 16 arrested people, some were drivers who had gone to the godown for consignments while others were workers involved in distilling the illicit liquor.
“Investigations are ongoing, the majority of those we arrested are not residents of Machakos but from Kibera slum in Nairobi. They were usually brought in at night in buses and canters to avoid being noticed by members of the public,” Mohammud said.
Following the incident, Mohammud issued directives that the area is guarded by police 24/7 and assured that the operations are still ongoing.
