Counterfeit liquor seized in raid on illegal distillery in Nyeri

A multi-agency security team in Mathira East, Nyeri County Thursday raided an unlicensed distillery and seized counterfeit liquor worth thousands of shillings and arrested one suspect believed to be behind the business.

During the sting operation led by Mathira East Assistant County Commissioner Rupare Ole Rinyai and local police boss James Barasa, the officers managed to recover assorted liquor belonging to various companies as well as fake Kenya revenue Authority (KRA) stamps.

Five hundred litres of ethanol, 17 cartons of a popular vodka brand, 40 crates of bottled popular brands of beer and several rolls of KRA excise duty stamps were found in the illegal distillery.

KRA officers who were summoned to verify whether the stamps were genuine could not give an immediate answer, saying some of them bore features similar to those of genuine ones and promised to conduct further investigations. They summoned their investigating arm to seal the residential house as a crime scene.

Tipped off by locals

Mr Rinyai said they were tipped off by locals and planned the raid, noting that the products were a health risk to unsuspecting consumers.

The administrator said the arrests and recovery of the goods was a major breakthrough in the fight against counterfeits, adding that more raids will be conducted in a bid to wipe out the menace in the area. 

Mr Barasa said the police first intercepted a vehicle that was transporting the illegal liquor and the driver led them to the illegal distillery in a residential house on the suburbs of Karatina town. However, one suspect who was accompanying the driver managed to escape.

He said the suspect who is in police custody would be taken to court to face various charges.

“Whenever we get information we shall continue with such raids on illegal factories involved in the production of counterfeit products and this operation will go on until we reinstate sanity in the liquor sector,” he said.