Eighteen individuals have been arrested in Eastleigh, Nairobi City County, in reference to a well-deliberated, advanced tax evasion scheme involving ‘cargo dumping’ to keep away from tax fee.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) investigators, assisted by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), arrested the suspects following a three-day operation. The arrest follows KRA’s unearthing of a well-orchestrated tax evasion scheme by which inland items are misdeclared as transit items with the intent to divert and dump the products domestically with out fee of requisite taxes.
Investigations on the scheme revealed that truck drivers alter car registration plates mid-journey inside the nation and tamper with the digital seals which allow real-time monitoring of vehicles transporting transit items vide the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) utilized by KRA’s Customs and Border Control. The culprits on this scheme distort the truck’s identification to hide the diversion of the products and keep off the monitoring groups on the KRA’s Central Command & Control and Rapid Response Units (RRU) radar. The vehicles on transit are ‘armed’ with digital seals which set off an alarm on the KRA’s Central Command & Control if there’s tampering, diversion from the designated route, or an unusually lengthy stopover and are presupposed to be eliminated (‘disarmed’) on the borders because the transit items exit the nation.
In this case, a forty-foot container full with textiles (materials) loaded in Mombasa and declared as transit items destined to Democratic Republic of Congo for a consignee named Kandama Kasongo Franchoise have been diverted and offloaded in Eastleigh, Nairobi beneath the watch of DCI’s elite Operation Support Unit (OSU) and KRA’s Investigation & Enforcement officers.
During the intelligence-led covert operation, investigators watched because the truck driver- Meshack Leo, who’s among the many 18 suspects arrested, change the truck’s registration on the Machakos Junction and tampered with the Customs digital seal earlier than continuing with the journey in the direction of Nairobi. They have been additionally seen erasing the “transit goods” marks on the trailer earlier than making a u- flip in Mai Mahiu.
The enforcement groups had been trailing the truck from Mombasa for days and nights whereas ready to strike on the proper second. This occurred on Tuesday morning as the products, price Kshs.3,528,471.42 in taxes have been being offloaded on Monday at round 2230Hrs in Eastleigh. Investigations additional reveal that the consignee (Kandama Kasongo Franchoise) has over time imported and dumped a complete of 9 consignments with a tax implication of Kshs.21,956,664.
The truck driver and others discovered offloading the products in Eastleigh have been arrested. Among these arrested are retailer house owners Yusuf Mohammed Noor and Abdi Nasir. The truck/Trailer loaded with the mentioned reveals was escorted to a KRA customs warehouse for secure custody awaiting completion of investigations.
This operation underscores the federal government’s dedication to implementing tax compliance and holding offenders accountable for tax evasion offences.
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