KRA finds 20 more containers of contraband sugar, ethanol at Joho depot

By WILLIAM MWANGI, Feb. 17, 2016

Police officers at Autoport Container Freight Station, associated with Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho's family, February 2, 2016. Photo/ELKANA JACO

KRA officials have found 20 containers of contraband sugar at Autoport Container Freight Station which is associated with Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho. 

The consignment, which had been declared as floor sanding machines and related hardware tools, has an estimated tax value of Sh36 million, said Grace Wandera, Marketing and Communication deputy commissioner. 

She said in a statement on Wednesday that Kenya Revenue Authority officials carrying out a probe at the station reported that the sugar was from Brazil. 

Wandera said KRA officials also found a 40-foot container with 135 drums of a liquid product suspected to be ethanol, with a tax value of about Sh11 million., 

Julius Musyoki, Customs and Border Control commissioner, said the consignments will be assessed further. He said they will be forfeited to the state for destruction once officially confirmed to have contraband items. 

“The contents of this containers, will also be destroyed as part of our measures to curb this practice," Musyoki said. “We are also in pursuit of listed importers who we shall be seeking to arraign in court." 

Autoport and Portside CFSs, both linked to Joho's family, were  closed in January amid reports linking them to the smuggling of multimillion-shilling goods. 

The closure came after an executive directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who oversaw the destruction of illicit rice, ethanol and sugar allegedly cleared by the CFSs. 

Joho was later  given 36 hours to allow owners of cargo stored at the stations to evacuate after clearance with customs.