Police destroy 20,000 litres of illicit brew

More than 20,000 litres of alcohol were Wednesday destroyed by police in Tudor’s Junda area, Mombasa following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to ban second-generation brews.

Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa issued orders to public administrative heads in the coastal city to crackdown on illicit brew dens to eradicate the ill in their respective areas.

Speaking during one of the raids, Kisauni Deputy County Commissioner Julius Kavita stated that police managed to identify a suspected chang’aa brewery that was safely tucked in a mangrove swamp in Junda.

He stated that once the operation is complete more than 30,000 litres of the illicit brew will have been destroyed.

“The brewers have devised ingenious ways to cover up their operations by operating by the seaside in a bid to avoid detection, and it has taken smart policing to close in on this scheme,” Kavita said.

He reiterated that the government will not stop raiding chang’aa dens and cautioned brewers from resuming operations once the crackdown is over.

The deputy county commissioner also expressed that patrols will be regularly carried out to ensure that the illegal breweries do not resume their operations.

He also revealed that the drums that were used to store the alcohol have been destroyed by the security agents.