Police arrest two found in possession of smuggled sugar

Garissa, Kenya: Police are holding two suspects after they were found with more than 130 bags of contraband sugar valued at more than Sh3 million in Garissa Town.

The sugar had originated from Somalia and was headed for Nairobi when a lorry with the commodity was seized on Wednesday.

A police source said several other kilos of the product had already passed to Nairobi by the time the 130 bags were seized.

Most sugar factories in the country face closure because of the contraband products that have flooded the market.

Contraband goods find their way into Kenya through the porous Kenya-Somalia border with widespread claims of bribery of security officers manning border points. The goods end up in Nairobi.

Last year, more than 300 bags of sugar from Somalia were destroyed in Garissa Town.

The destruction of the contraband sugar came a month after police in Garissa set ablaze an assorted cache of sugar, powdered milk, shoes and electronic goods that has entered the county from Somalia through the Liboi border crossing point.

There are also reports the sugar is used to fund Al-Shabaab activities in Somalia. Police say some of the killings that had been experienced in Garissa town in the past years had been linked to the illegal imports of the products.

According to the Kenya Sugar Board, the industry regulator, Kenyans consume 800,000 tons of sugar annually, but domestically produce only 500,000 tons.

To meet demand, more than 50,000 bags are imported daily into the north-eastern region from Somalia, some of which is smuggled in illegally.