Police officers in Eldoret town have arrested one person suspected to be among a cartel that is behind the purchase of subsidized fertilizer from the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and later repackaging before selling to unsuspecting farmers at a higher price.
The police also nabbed 1,400 bags of the subsidized fertilizer following an operation at two different homesteads on the outskirts of Eldoret town on Monday.
According to Eldoret East OCPD Richard Omanga, 400 bags were found at the homestead of the arrested suspect at Munyaka estate while the other 1,000 was found at Chebarus area.
Omanga said the suspect was helping the police with further investigations.
Uain Gishu County Commissioner Abdi Hassan on his part said the seized fertilizer bags had already tampered.
He said police will continue with a crackdown to ensure all individuals involved in the illegal activities are arrested and prosecuted.
“This people once they have the subsidized fertilizer, the first thing they do is change the package from one bag to the other so that it is not seen as it was purchased from the NCPB,” said Hassan.
“We have also found out that of all the 1,400 bags we nabbed today, each of them is less two kilograms,” he added.
There have been concerns that some unscrupulous businesspersons have been purchasing subsidized fertilizers from NCPB only to go and repackage them then resell to unsuspecting farmers at a higher price.