17 February 2014, Nairobi – Kenya’s Uasin Gishu government at the weekend led a contingent of police officers in unmasking dens that engage in illegal business of transit fuel.
The operation exposed three notorious dens in Turbo constituency of Eldoret West district and Lugari in Western Kenya.
Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno said they decided to undertake the swoop after they received complaints from members of the public.
“We are urging all locals to be vigilant and report incidents where lorries offload fuel for transit,” Chemno said.
Five lorries belonging to Petro City in Turbo were almost set ablaze by residents for offloading the fuel meant for export.
Residents accused the police Kenya Revenue Authority officials of engaging in the illicit trade.
Three underground tanks filled with kerosene were found were found in Lugari. Chemno said they will continue waging war on the illicit dealers and asked Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to empower the county government in fighting the illegal trade.
“County governments do not have the capacity to deal with such cases because our mandate is limited to security matters,” he said.
The crackdown comes barely a week after a truck transporting more than 10,000 litres of petroleum went up in flames as residents were trying to siphon fuel from it.
– The Star