Kenya security officials find three stolen vehicles dumped in Moshi Tanzania

Kenyan and Tanzania security officials have recovered three vehicles stolen in Kenya dumped in Moshi.

Police and the provincial administration in Taita Taveta County said one of the vehicles belongs to a Chinese firm, Zong Miang Engineering Company in Nairobi, which was being used in the ongoing construction of the Standard Gauge Railway.

The three vehicles were found on Friday abandoned in Moshi town with no occupants and police suspect the thieves abandoned them after suspecting they were being tracked.

"This is a syndicate by which vehicles are stolen in Kenya and driven to the neighbouring country through undesignated routes along the porous Kenya-Tanzania border," said Taveta Deputy County Commissioner Henry Wafula.

NOT IDENTIFIED

He said the owners of the other two vehicles had not been identified.

The administration said the vehicles were later towed to Himo Police Station near the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Speaking to The Standard after the recovery, Mr Wafula said the carjackers had replaced the Kenyan registration numbers to avoid detection.

"We have put the car cartels on the radar in liaison with our counterparts in Tanzania. Our working relations with our Tanzania counterparts are cordial and that is why we have managed to recover the stolen vehicles," he said.

The porous border has frequently been used as a conduit for stolen vehicles as well as drug and human trafficking.