Police blocked from arresting Mt Kenya tycoon

juma chrispinus

June 18, 2018 12:48 PM

Matiang'i has been told to name key culprits in poisonous sugar deals.

Police were on Monday barred from arresting a business tycoon in Ruiru, Kiambu County in the ongoing crackdown on the dealers in poisoned sugar.

A High Court in Nairobi barred the police from arresting Mr Patrick Kuria and his wife over dirty sugar seized in Ruiru and granted an anticipatory bail of Sh200,000.

The new blockage comes a day after over 30 supermarket attendants in Nyandarua County were arrested in the crackdown which has gained steam since last week.

The sugar was in bags marked “Note for Sale. For industrial use only” and showed that it was imported from Brazil and another from India.

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“The bags are clearly labelled for industrial use only. That is why we have decided to take over the premises until investigations are done,” said Danson Nduri, Central Regional CID.

Kitui Sugar Syndicate

On Sunday, Kitui Central OCPD Muthuri Mwongera said the proprietor of Mt Kenya Wholesalers, a dealer in contraband sugar, was in custody in connection with the questionable sugar and would appear in court on Monday.

He said detectives were verifying the authenticity of the documents submitted by the tycoon.

The trader was arrested on Friday and his godowns put on a 24-hour police watch after hundreds of bags of sugar, suspected to be contaminated, were seized in three towns.

Mr Mwongera said samples of the consignment have been taken to Government Chemist for testing as investigations into how the importers evaded paying duty to the Kenya Revenue Authority intensify.

Officers from the Kenya Bureau of Standards and KRA joined the investigating team and took samples of the sugar impounded from shops in Kitui, Matuu and Mwingi.

Meanwhile, Dahir Hassan, Mohammed Ahmed and Ahmed Mohammed have been charged with selling Sh3m worth bad sugar in Eastleigh, Nairobi. They have, however, denied five counts and have been freed on Sh300,000 bail each.

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