Police in Wajir County on January 1, 2023, confiscated a lorry reportedly carrying 560 bags of suspected contraband sugar.

Police officers and sleuths attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had over the weekend received an intel that a businessman was planning to transport Brazilian sugar in the area.

“The Kenya police and DCI officers from Habaswein Sub-County intercepted a lorry and seized the 560 bags of Brazilian sugar each weighing 50 kilograms,” a statement by the National Police Service.

The lorry was also carrying 250 bags of Simba Rice each weighing 25 kilograms and all suspected to be contraband.

In the Kenyan market the total cost of the sugar can be estimated to be Sh7.1 million.

In November another driver identified as Hassan Adan Guyo was freed on a bond of Sh100,000 after he pleaded not guilty of smuggling sugar into the country. He was arrested within Isiolo County.

He appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Edward Tsimonjero and denied the charges levelled against him.

Mr Guyo was nabbed following a tip-off which saw a multiagency team nab him while he was transporting the 160 bags of smuggled sugar within Garba Tula in Isiolo County.

The SAHA-branded sugar was being transported in a lorry and a private Land Rover and had a street value of Sh560,000.

The arraignment of Mr Guyo comes at a time when the Kenya Revenue Authority said it had nabbed and charged over 40 suspects who are involved in illicit trade which denies the government a lot of money in taxes.

The State agency goes on maintaining that it has deployed a number of techniques to ensure that it conducts intelligence surveillance to nab such traders.

Investigations on such traders has been a high-notch and they have always been arraigned in court.