A 37-year-old man believed to be the owner of an illegal fuel depot in Nakuru was on Thursday charged with illegally trading and storing petroleum products without a license.
According to the charge sheet, the accused, Evans Kamau, committed the offence on September 1 with others before court with conspiring to store over one million liters of petroleum products without authorization.
The accused who was at large during the raid by GSU officers from Nairobi at the depot was arrested on September 12 after a tip off by members of the public.
Crude stolen from sabotaged pipelines and oil tankers on transit are regularly smuggled and sold in petrol stations within the county, an illicit business that is estimated to cost the country some much-needed revenue.
According to the police, the depot is used by fuel cartels in siphoning petroleum from the oil tankers while on transit and mix pure petrol with kerosene and later release the content to the petrol stations which sell it as petrol.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and through his lawyer Wachira Waiganjo urged the court to release him on reasonable bond terms.
Presiding Magistrate, Bernard Mararo released the accused on a Sh2 Million bond and a surety of the same amount awaiting hearing of the matter.
Kenya’s Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter had warned that the government will cancel export licenses for companies involved in fuel adulteration after conducting a spot check on illegal fuel depots in Nakuru last week.