Editor's Review

DCI arrested two suspects trying to smuggle 1.5 tonnes of sugar through an ungazetted section along the Kenya-Uganda border.

On Tuesday, September 22, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested two suspects trying to smuggle 1.5 tonnes of sugar through a porous section along the Kenya-Uganda border.

According to the police report, the suspects used the ungazetted route to avoid remitting taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)  at the border customs office at Busia.

Police officers discovered the consignment after flagging down the suspects' vehicle in Busia Town.

"An inspection of the vehicle led to the recovery of 30 bags of sugar, each weighing 50 kilograms, smuggled past the taxman's watchful eye by sneaking through an unmanned entry point instead of a designated border crossing; a well-worn trick that has now landed its suspected couriers in police cells," the police report read.

The police impounded the vehicle and the undeclared sugar at the Busia Police Station. The suspects are booked and processed before their arraignment in court.

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A file photo of the suspects and the seized undeclared sugar.

DCI confirmed that law enforcement had intensified patrols along Kenya's border points smugglers exploit to bypass taxation.

"This is part of the National Police Service's wider crackdown on economic crimes that continue to bleed the country of much-needed revenue," the statement read in part.

Earlier, DCI detectives arrested a SIM-swap fraudster targeting the elderly under the guise of enrolling them on the Social Health Authority (SHA).

The suspects would use the purported registration to obtain victims’ personal details, swap their SIM cards and gain access to their mobile money and other digital wallets, then transfer funds to accounts under their control.

Police arrested 37-year-old Phyllis Njagi in Mtwapa after trailing her for several days. However, her accomplice, John Mango, managed to escape the police dragnet. Detectives are now appealing to members of the public to help identify and trace Mango.

The DCI urged members of the public to remain vigilant when approached by individuals claiming to be conducting government registration exercises.