Officers attached to the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) had a hard time on Wednesday as they attempted to raid a market in Eastleigh to seize contraband goods following a tip-off from locals.
A video reviewed by Kenyans.co.ke showed angry traders from the area blocking the officials from accessing the market. Reports indicate that the officers were looking for hazardous cosmetic products.
The traders were visibly agitated as they confronted the officials, expressing their frustration while being instructed to unlock their shops for inspection.
Simultaneously, some of the traders were captured on camera hastily handing over their goods to their associates as the KEBS officials closed in.
Despite the resistance, the officials managed to gain access to some of the shops allegedly selling contraband goods.
“Today we had planned to raid Eastleigh on banned cosmetics and we have found that they are abundant,” an official from KEBS told journalists after the agency staged the raid.
“They are coming through porous borders and we have heightened surveillance as the products are dangerous to human beings.”
The official further stressed that the cosmetic product in question had been banned previously for containing excess mercury beyond the recommended levels.
He categorically warned that continued use of the product is harmful to the kidneys and brain.
KEBS raid was conducted barely two weeks after the agency was put on the spot for laxity in gatekeeping the quality of locally manufactured goods.
The government agency denied those claims and clarified that it conducted surveillance inspections, with sampling done at the factory and in the market.
This comes even as concerns over the porous nature of the Kenya-Somalia border continue to persist.
On May 15, the Interior Ministry through Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announced the opening of the border to enhance business operations and clamp down on the smuggling of goods to and from the country.
Plans to reopen the border were shelved in July following a surge in terrorist attacks. The CS announced then that the borders would remain closed indefinitely until security agencies stabilise the security situation.
