KRA destroys contraband goods in Mombasa

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers on Friday led in the destruction of contraband goods including sugar and rice that were allegedly brought into the country illegally through the Mombasa port.

The rice was believed to be on transit to Uganda when KRA intercepted the commodity.

Destruction of the contraband goods started on Wednesday with goods being removed from their storage areas for destruction.

Julius Musyoki, the Commissioner of Customs and Border Control, led the exercise under heavy security from the Kenya Navy who submerged the ship.

However, the goods destroyed are only a fraction of the sugar that had been allegedly brought into the country illegally.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS), however, said the goods were not fit for human consumption.

In the recent past, President Uhuru Kenyatta sent a clear signal to drug traffickers when he destroyed a ship that was filled with illegal drugs.

The President, aboard a Kenya Air Force chopper, accompanied the Kenya Navy in their modern warship KNS Jasiri, journalists, security personnel and anti-narcotic officials witnessed as the ship and the drugs were blown off in a well-coordinated exercise in the high seas.

The destruction of drugs impounded by the Kenya Navy in August 2014 was also witnessed by delegates who had been in Mombasa attending the 16th East Africa Police Chiefs Co-operation Organization (EAPCCO) Annual General Meeting.