Matiangi had suspended imports of gambling machines and cracked down on gaming and vice dens/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 18 – The war on contraband goods has been intensified in different parts of the country with the government vowing to take stern action against those involved in the illegal trade.
In Kitui, 500 bags of illegal sugar were seized Monday as Governor Charity Ngilu vowed that there will be no mercy for dealers of fake products that threaten the health of Kenyans.
“I would rather have my people take tea without sugar or use our honey instead of poisonous sugar peddled by merciless and greedy merchants,” she warned.
Ngilu said unscrupulous merchants were allegedly distributing and selling sugar laced with mercury and copper in Kitui County and warned residents against buying and consuming such products.
She said the campaign against contraband products would be extended to all goods including adulterated brews that the National Government waged war against but which are finding their way back into the county.
And while 70 other bags of sugar were nabbed in Mwingi, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi was on Monday to oversee the ongoing destruction of confiscated gaming machines and shisha pots in an exercise that was to take place in Dagoretti.
Matiangi had suspended imports of gambling machines and cracked down on gaming and vice dens.
The multi-agency team on illicit products was scheduled to make public the contraband goods intercepted through the 100 per cent multi-agency verification on Monday.
From May 2018, the team that consists of the Kenya Revenue Authority and the multi-agency team handling illicit trade has engaged in a rigorous nationwide crackdown on illicit trade and contrabands.
This is part of KRA’s campaign against tax evasion and smuggling and to protect the public from consuming substandard goods.
Over the weekend, at least 28 gambling machines and illicit liquor were destroyed in Kisumu West with the sub-County Deputy Commissioner Walter Ngaira leading the operation to burn the confiscated machines.
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