I found workers repackaging expired diapers, says Kebs official

 

A Kenya Bureau of Standards officer testifying in a case where a trader is charged with importation and repackaging of expired diapers has told a court he caught workers in the act.

David Kisiangani told Milimani chief magistrate Martha Mutuku that he found workers altering original expiry dates on diapers and replacing them with others at a Mombasa Road godown in 2018.

Mukhtar Rehemtulla Omar, chairman of the Ruaraka-based logistics company Roy Transporters, is the defendant in the matter. 

Court papers say Omar was found in different processes of erasing the manufacture and expiry dates on 5,094 bales of EZEE baby diapers on October 11, 2018 at Imperial Industrial Park godown Mlolongo, Machakos county with intent to offer them for sale. 

Kisiangani said the first time they went to arrest the workers was on October 11, 2018 at a godown.

“We went and took photos at the scene so that the evidence is well kept by Kebs,”  Kisiangani said.

The officer said that the photos were taken at Empirical Industrial Park along Mombasa Road while others were kept at Kenya Bureau of Standards. Some 45 photos were taken.

He said that the manufacturing dates were on February 10, 2015, while the expiry dates were August 9, 2018.

“The original manufacturing dates had lapsed and new manufacturing dates were being inserted,” he said.

The expired diapers were likely to be a health risk to the children and that they did not take them to Government Chemist, he said. 

The officer said that the items were sealed on October 22, 2018 after he had been called by a DCI officer to go and ascertain the quality of products in a godown.

“The people who were altering the dates were using erasers and stamps,” he said.

Despite the arrest of workers, the investigating officer said that he did not find the two accused who were in court at the scene.

He said that they wanted to verify whether the goods followed due process when being imported but the owners were not present.

The officer produced two packets of the alleged expired diapers in court, four razors and stamps.

Omar is further charged with offering for sale the expired baby diapers without a valid standardisation mark printed in them.

He is also accused of applying an import standardisation mark on the diapers without a valid permit issued by Kebs.  BY THE STAR