The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has confirmed its change of tack in their fight against contraband goods.
Speaking at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) on Tuesday where she witnessed the incineration of contraband goods impounded at the Eldoret Airport, the authority’s Rift Valley regional manager Florence Oturi attributed this to a rise in the number of cases where illegal goods are being impounded and destroyed but their owners not arrested.
“Most of these goods were left by the owners. Once they were seized by KRA at the airport, they disappeared. The police have tried to trace them but they have not been able to get them because the addresses they put on their packages are fake. You also cannot get them using their phone numbers. This, however, does not make these goods legal,” she said.
According to her, KRA is now intending to put up stringent measures to ensure that those involved in those businesses are arrested whenever their goods are impounded.
“KRA has come up with a different way. Before consolidators receive any consignment anywhere they are, they are mandated to get the exact contact of the person who is exporting the product. The consolidators are going to be held accountable for whatever goods they bring into this country and whose owner we cannot trace,” she added.