Police officers in Eldoret town are holding three suspects after they were found in possession of illegal expired goods which included agro chemicals, animal feeds and human drugs.
The multi-agency operation by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, police officers and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers recovered the assorted goods from a hall which was being used for repackaging and storage.
Confirming the incident, Uasin Gishu County Police Commander Johnstone Ipara said they also confiscated machines used for repackaging assorted farm implements, plastic containers with lab chemicals and empty sachets.
EXPIRED
“On Tuesday evening, we carried out an operation within Kasarani area in Langas slums at the home of one Dominic Mwangi where we established that he was involved in repackaging agro chemicals, human medicine, farm inputs and animal feeds. Upon checking one of the containers, we saw that it was manufactured in 2013 and was due to expire in 2015,” said Mr Ipara.
He went on, “That caused panic, and we immediately assembled the multi agencies that are concerned. And among them are specialised organisations who will conduct thorough analysis and come give more details. Expired goods have a lot of dangers because they can cause diseases that cannot heal.”
Mr Ipara said that the goods that were seized can endanger the lives of farmers or decrease their farm yields. He maintained that the government agencies will not tolerate such unscrupulous people.
NO RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE
“These people earn a living from selling products that are expired and which are not supposed to be on the shelves but because they don’t have respect for human life they have decided to abuse human rights and exploit them,” said Mr Ipara.
Addressing journalists at Langas Police station, Mr Ipara said that apart from Mr Mwangi, the other two suspects were arrested in an agro chemical outlet located within the Eldoret CBD which has since been closed down by KRA officers.
“And out of what we have seen, we are going to prefer more than 15 charges,” explained Mr Ipara.
He said that the operation was intelligence-led and that they are still following other leads to other parts of the country with a view to arresting those who collaborate with the suspects.
At the same time, Mr Joshua Pulekwa from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board said that some of the assorted items had expired and were kept in unsafe conditions, making them unsafe for human consumption.
“Most of the labelling has been removed making it hard for us to establish the countries of origin,” said Mr Pulekwa.