?Indian ship captain released on Sh1 million bond for alleged false cargo declaration

Sumra Suleiman Umar in court on Monday. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

The captain of a ship from India charged with false declaration of goods was freed on a Sh1 million bond by a Mombasa court Monday.

The State alleges he and another Indian captain of a separate ship uttered false declarations to Kenya Revenue Authority after they docked at Mombasa port.

Sumra Suleman Umar, the captain of the ship named Haseena was released after his lawyer Jared Magolo applied for a review of his bond from Sh4 million.

Umar was charged together with Gajjan Mahamad Salim Suleiman, the captain of Uweesh Karni vessel, of false declaration of cargo worth Sh77 million in custom duty.

The two captains denied the charges before Resident Magistrate Christine Ogweno.

“The accused bond is hereby reviewed to Sh1 million and a Kenyan surety of similar amount. He is also to deposit his passport in court,” said Ogweno.

The two are accused of giving false information to the KRAcustoms officers at Mtongwe anchorage.

Umar is accused of that on February 4, 2018 at Mtongwe anchorage, he declared 5,000 packages of cooking oil instead of 10,800 bags of rice with a custom value of Sh36.4 million.

He was also charged of declaring 5,000 instead of 26,600 jerry-cans of 20 litres of cooking oil with a valued of Sh9.6 million.