Detectives drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday night raided several stalls within Nairobi's Central Business District (CBD) in an operation to arrest traders selling counterfeit books.
In a statement by the DCI, the officers arrested two individuals along Ronald Ngara Street for printing Four Figure Mathematical Tables Covers.
Upon interrogation, the detectives traced the business owner who was also brought to book.
According to the DCI, the owner disclosed he had been contracted by a suspect named SM to carry out the illegal operation.
The officers embarked on a search for the suspect and hours later managed to trace the suspect's whereabouts in Nairobi. He was later apprehended by the officers.
"It was established that SM runs a printing store number 9 situated at Rahu house basement along Mfangano Street whereupon search, a printing machine and Four Figure Mathematical Table templates were recovered," read part of the statement.
Upon further interrogation by the detectives, the suspect ceded to the officers' demands and led them to another shop located at Manshram Mansion along the same street where over 1,000 copies of Four Figure Mathematical Tables without covers were recovered.
The four suspects were taken into custody and detained pending arraignment. Further, all the scenes were documented by the DCI detectives.
The incident highlights the alarming situation where Kenyans fall victim to purchasing counterfeit products.
A study by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) estimated that one in every five products sold in the Kenyan market is counterfeit, signalling that over 4 million Kenyans are currently using fake products.
Another study conducted by the ACA National Baseline Survey showed that 30 per cent of counterfeit goods were locally manufactured while 70 per cent were imported.
Some of these products included sugar, pharmaceutical products, cooking oil, bottled water, alcohol and cigarettes
This, according to the study, poses a serious threat to the country's economy, with many Kenyans opting for counterfeit products because they are cheaper than the original brands.
