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The Scrap Metal Council has directed Customs officials to seize a vehicle caught transporting scrap metal to neighbouring Tanzania without the necessary licenses.

Council chairperson Francis Mugo has also told the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) personnel at the Taveta border point to confiscate the scrap batteries that were being ferried.

The driver of the truck, registration number, KAD 803R which was ferrying 10 tonnes of scrap batteries, fled the scene and since last Saturday no one has come to claim the truck or the goods. “We are following the Scrap Metal Act as it is, that exportation of scrap metal is illegal and a vehicle found exporting the same is impounded by the state and the goods retained,” said Mugo.

He added; “We want this to serve as a warning to other smugglers of scrap metal, the law is clear but they have continued to operate with impunity disregarding the law as it were.”

Previously, crooked traders have managed to escape with lenient fines as courts have not followed the law to the letter which requires the vehicles seized and the goods confiscated by the state.

Customs officials working with police in Taveta last weekend seized the truck which was reportedly ferrying scrap metal to Tanzania using fake National Environment Management Authority licenses.