A lorry carrying 22,000 litres of contraband ethanol was impounded yesterday by Nyahururu police as it headed towards Nairobi from a neighbouring country.

The driver and his assistant were arrested and locked up at the Nyahururu police station.

The vehicle was carrying 88 plastic drums of 250-litre capacity each, said Nyahururu Deputy County Commissioner Bernard Odino.
It had passed Nyahururu and was heading to Nyeri when it was intercepted.

Odino estimated the value of the ethanol at about Sh7 million in the local market.

“We received a signal at about midnight that a lorry that was supposed to be driven from Malaba on the Kenya-Uganda border had been diverted towards Nyahururu in Laikipia County,” he said.

“We mobilised security officers to track the lorry and it was stopped beyond Nyahururu town.”

The vehicle was handed over to Kenya Revenue Authority officers for further investigations on the cargo.

Avoiding weighbridge

Odino said the ethanol was suspected to be contraband because the lorry crew chose the longer Nakuru-Nyahururu-Nyeri-Thika-Nairobi route to avoid the Gilgil weighbridge, where the cargo could have been detected through scanning.

The case, he said, suggested that unscrupulous people might be using the Nakuru-Nyahururu-Nyeri highway to transport illegal goods.

“We have set up a multi-agency team to monitor the highway at night to nab any transporters using the road for illegal activities,” he said the Nyahururu police station, where the lorry and its cargo were taken.

The drums were covered with a tarpaulin, with blocks of building stones placed at the rear to conceal the cargo.