Days after reports of seized contraband sugar showing traces of copper and mercury, it has now emerged that another product in households (cooking oil) could be contaminated as well.
A consignment of 2000 bags of the suspected sugar was on Saturday seized at a warehouse in Matuu, Machakos county together with containers of cooking oil.
Machakos county commissioner Matilda Sakwa who led the operation accompanied by a security team and other government officials stated that the confiscated bags could have been part of the uncleared goods found in Eastleigh, Nairobi recently.
She added that the goods belonged to Mt Kenya Distributors Limited, and had been imported illegally from Tanzania.
[caption caption="Machakos county commissioner Matilda Sakwa (R) leads a security team and other government officials in inspecting contraband sugar at Matuu market"]
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"We found when some of the bags were being offloaded from a lorry for storage in the said warehouse. Police have taken charge of the two lorries and the godown.
"The samples of sugar and oil have been taken by KEBs officials for further tests to ascertain if they are safe for human consumption," she conveyed.
She urged Kenyans with information of unscrupulous products to share the information for action adding that KRA would also conduct investigations to establish whether the duty for goods had been paid for.
"It is not possible to know whether the consignment is good or not with the look of the necked eye. It is important that we know where our products come from. Traders should engage in genuine business. People who bring in products into the country should know what products they are buying," she explained.
Earlier in the week, Interior CS Fred Matiang'i declared that a crackdown would be intensified into the adulteration of fuel and sale of other contraband goods.
“The level of this criminality is mind-boggling. There are people in our society making money moving goods that they know for sure are unsafe and injurious to our health, We are not going to be polite on this.
“For those making calls and threatening officers, just know that we are ready and aware that this war could take the lives of some of us...the revenue we have lost is partly because of these kinds of crimes. It is hurting our economy and our health,” added Dr Matiangi.
[caption caption="Seized illegal sugar"]
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