MOMBASA, KENYA: Two high-value vehicles stolen from the United Kingdom have been intercepted at the Port of Mombasa taking the number to seven seized at the facility in the recent months.
Some of the vehicles were declared as household goods while others had “cloned chassis numbers” to conceal their stolen status.
Falsified importation clearance documents indicate the vehicles valued at Sh500 million were destined to Uganda but customs officials said they were mostly likely to be diverted into the Kenyan market.
Speaking at the port, British High Commissioner to Kenya Mr. Nic Hailey said the seizure was an affirmation of close collaboration between Kenya Revenue Authority and UK government.
“The cars were stolen from UK and it shows that the organised crimes have no boundaries. The seizure was because of intelligence sharing between UK and KRA,” said Mr. Hailey.
He said sleuths from the two nations were working to identify the faces behind the transnational crimes in the UK and Kenya that were behind car theft syndicate.
According to Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the cars were traced from UK to Kenya after the British State government informed their Kenyan counterpart.
Among the cars seized are five Range Rovers units, one Land Rover Discovery and a BMW X5 and were all shipped in containers manifested as other low-value vehicle models.
“In some cases, they were disguised as used household goods,” said KRA Commissioner, Intelligence and Strategic Mr. Githii Mburu after the inspection of the vehicles at the port.
Mburu said in two cases, the chassis numbers found on the vehicles had been “cloned” to conceal their stolen status.
“KRA has worked closely with the British High Commissioner in Kenya through information sharing and intelligence exchange to disrupt the stolen vehicle smuggling syndicate,” he said.
He said latest seizure, two of the vehicles, were tracked for three months from one of the port in the UK. Both the cars were concealed in the containers.
SOURCE: standardmedia.co.ke
