Police blame managers for rampant coffee theft
Farmers outside Kagere Coffee Factory in Othaya on January 31 after unknown people stole 200 bags of coffee. The farmers demanded that anyone ferrying coffee must be issued with a permit to check increasing cases of theft. Police are now accusing management of factories of refusing to work with the to stem increasing cases of coffee theft in the county. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI
What you need to know:
- Police have accused management of factories of refusing to work with them to stem increasing cases of coffee theft in Nyeri County.
- Coffee factories will be required to share records of the produce with the police.
- Police will make it mandatory for all factories to provide records of all coffee delivered to them by farmers.
- Police are carrying out investigations to establish the quantity of coffee in each of factory stores.
Police have accused management of factories of refusing to work with them to stem increasing cases of coffee theft in the county.
County police boss Eunice Kihiko said they had agreed that the managers would alert them whenever there is coffee in their stores so that armed officers are assigned to guard the factories but the officials appear disinterested.
“Factory managers have failed to co-operate with the police to fight the crime. It is our mandate to secure people and property in the county and we will do whatever it takes to end theft of coffee,” Ms Kihiko told the Nation.
She wants the managers to provide the police with information that will help them determine how many officers should be sent to their factories.
“We will not allow anyone to transport coffee without first recording with us the details of their consignments,” Ms Kihiko added.
SHARE RECORDS
And now, coffee factories will be required to share records of the produce with the police.
Consequently, police will make it mandatory for all factories to provide records of all coffee delivered to them by farmers. Security officials say this will speed up ongoing investigations coffee thefts in the region.
Police are also carrying out investigations to establish the quantity of coffee in each of factory stores. Available coffee will then be crosschecked against records of the coffee farmers have delivered to the factories.
“We suspect foul play and we believe some thefts are faked,” said Ms Kihiko. The exercise is being conducted under heavy police watch and is expected to spread to all factories.
Nyeri has been rocked with cases of coffee theft. By September last year, thieves had stolen coffee worth Sh100 million from various factories.
There have been reports that some factory managers are colluding with thieves to steal coffee from their stores. Last year, one factory, Ndima-ini, lost 40 bags in one night.
