The Kenya Revenue Authority's (KRA) Rapid Response Unit was duped by a tax evasion cartel after it laid a trap to seize Ksh 3.2 million goods.
KRA had tracked a lorry ferrying coffee beans from Uganda through Eldoret. The cartel was being trailed over tax evasion schemes.
The body caught wind of the truck after its electronic seals were broken which notified the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking in Nairobi.
A quick plot to nab the cartels ended up frustrating KRA officials after the dealers switched the coffee beans with sandbags.
"The Response Unit received a seal broken alert from the Cargo Monitoring Centre in Times Towers on a vehicle carrying coffee from Uganda destined for Belgium.
"Upon tracing the location, it led them to a private residence where part of the coffee consignment from the said truck was found. The culprits had stuffed bags with wet ballast after removing the coffee," a statement by KRA stated.
The police officers recovered a number of the consignment hidden at a private house nearby.
KRA Commissioner General Githii Mburu lamented that unscrupulous individuals and organised crime perpetrators had hatched ways to avoid paying taxes.
Mburu disclosed that KRA loses Ksh 259 billion every year to such schemes.
"To mitigate against these crimes, tax authorities and government agencies dealing in financial investigations have heightened efforts to outsmart the tax cheats," he stated, adding that the taxman had launched a manhunt for 1,309 companies and wealthy individuals.
