Police officers raid godown repackaging sugar in Mombasa

Police in Mombasa have raided a godown near Bandari College and found thousands bags of Brazilian and Egyptian sugar.

Mombasa Urban OCPD Eliud Monari, who, was accompanied by several plain clothed police officers, said the sugar was being repackaged but its final destination was yet to be known.

"We suspect this sugar is not fit for human consumption but a multi-agency team dispatched from Nairobi will verify," the OCPD said.

NOT CONTRABAND

The sting operation caught the staff and other workers at the godown by surprise with a manager refuting police claims that the sugar is contraband.

“We got some information from concerned members of the public that some characters at a godown near Bandari College were [repackaging] some sugar from some sacks. We came to the place and we confirmed the existence of the sugar in estimated 300,000 bags.

“We have also found some sacks outside the stores indicating that repackaging has been going on. We also believe that the sugar [could be] expired,” the OCPD added.

TRUCKS IMPOUNDED

Mr Monari said police impounded trucks that were being loaded with the sugar.

"This place will remain guarded until the special investigation team arrives to confirm if this sugar is fit for human consumption.

“This is a concern for Kenyans and we are not going to take it lightly until the officers come to assess what is going on here,” Mr Monari said.

But the warehouse manager Mohamed Kalyan said police were out to harass them saying that all the imports had been done legally.

“Police came here and claimed that I was packing Brazilian sugar into Egyptian sugar bags but I have challenged them to open and check any bags they wanted to check. All the imports are done legally with [proper] documentations which I have. It has been cleared by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and everything is in order,” said Mr Kalyan.

PERMISSION FROM KEBS

Mr Kalyan told journalists that he has always sought permission from Kebs to repackage the sugar in new bags.

“I had a lot of damages in 2015 and had to replace the torn bags with new ones that I bought. After repacking, some bags remained and those are the ones that police impounded today. Actually they are new bags which have not been used,” he said.

He denied that he was repackaging sugar in his godown and insisted that he was doing a clean business and wondered why police were harassing him.

“I have about 80,000 bags in this warehouse and I don’t repackage sugar here. I sell it as it comes; if it come in Brazil bags, it goes out in Brazil bags and if it comes in Egyptian bags, I will sell it in Egypt bags. If it happens that I have to replace the torn bags, I usually notify Kebs to come and witness the replacement to clear any suspicion,” he said.

40 CONTAINERS

Mr Kalyan said the consignment at the warehouse is part of the 40 20ft containers of Egyptian sugar they imported in August last year and which was verified at the port of loading and Kebs issued its clearance certificate.

“At the moment, we have 50,000 bags of Egyptian sugar and 30,000 bags of Brazilian sugar in this warehouse,” he said, disputing police reports that the godown was storing 300,000 bags of sugar.

The latest raid comes barely a day after Kebs Coast Regional Manager Martin Nyakiamo was arrested by police in Mombasa.

He was arrested together with three other top officials.

Coast DCI boss Joseph Ng’ang’a confirmed Mr Nyakiamo's arrest.