How crooks sneak in luxury vehicles

One of the two Mercedes Benz inside a container before it was pulled out at the KRA Customs bounded Warehouse at the port of Mombasa, January 31, 2017. The container had been declared as loaded with hospital equipments by the importer. [Photo: Gideon Maundu/Standard]

In June last year, an undercover operation hatched months earlier by Interpol was executed simultaneously in cities in Eastern and Southern Africa.

The aim of the sting was to bust a motor vehicle theft ring with operations in several European and Far East capitals.

The operation led to nearly 4,500 arrests of people involved in various crimes including human, drug and arms trafficking, terrorism and car theft. The operation was a success. Previous stings had little impact because those targeted always seemed a step ahead of law enforcement.

Crooked KRA officials

But as the multinational officers celebrated, some of the key individuals and organisations escaped this June 29 and 30 dragnet and to date continue their trade with little interruption.

A cabal of unscrupulous businessmen, clearing agents and crooked Kenya Revenue Authority officers are colluding to import high end vehicles and sell them off to buyers without paying tax to the taxman, investigations by the Sunday Standard on can reveal.

Through cheating the system, knowledgeable government employees are colluding with criminals to divert high end vehicles from their intended destinations and sell them locally.

Individuals privy to how operations within the car import and export business work, shared how stolen vehicles from Aisa, Europe, the US often end up in the streets of Nairobi.

It starts with a request to one of the recognisable motor vehicle dealerships to import a vehicle. This is done on referral. A previous happy client would refer a new, trusted one to the business owners. After the initial meet and greet, a vehicle model is settled upon. The client then makes a deposit for the vehicle and an order is made.

The dealer then sounds out his sources across three continents. Only the one who finally provide the vehicle is paid. When a vehicle is obtained, next on the chain of command is a clearing agent in the country of origin who undertakes to transport the vehicle to the country of destination. Here, the clearing agent can under declare the goods in the container.

When this happens, the shipping agent will for instance declare that he is shipping a container of second hand furniture. The destination sheet might also indicate that the importer is in Uganda. The goods will then not be liable to any form of tax within Kenya apart from the normal toll charges that apply to transit goods. When the container gets to the next port, a clearing agent, often in the loop clears the container.