Government Fertiliser Worth Sh. 10m Seized In A Thika Home.

Nairobi-Based Flying Squad Police officers have impounded over 3,000 bags of government subsidised fertiliser worth over sh. 10million from a private makeshift warehouse in Ngoingwa Estate, Thika West Sub-County.

Addressing the press on Saturday morning, National Cereals and Produce Board Nairobi-Eastern Regional Manager Mr. Dennis Mutai said that police acted on a tip off and stormed the premises where this fertiliser was being re-packaged from the NCPB branded bags into those of ‘Falcon’ and ‘Chapa Meli’ brands.  

Mutai said that CID officers from Nairobi called them to Thika after they arrested 8 suspects re-packaging the fertiliser. He said that they were not yet aware the source from which the consignment had been drawn from but investigations were still underway.

“Yesterday, CID officers from Nairobi raided a go-down in a residential plot in Ngoingwa and confiscated NCPB fertiliser that were being re-packaged into other bags to disguise as genuine fertiliser from a private company. We are now storing the bags here at our Thika store as police exhibit,” said Mutai.

The CAN, NPK and DAP fertiliser was all packed in 50kg bags.

Mutai said that investigations into the syndicate were still ongoing to establish the actual source of the consignment.

The fertiliser is part of the government consignment meant to benefit ordinary farmers. He lamented that it was very unfortunate that unscrupulous businessmen had now taken advantage of the low cost fertiliser to woo poor farmers into selling them.

“We suspect that farmers may be placing orders for surplus subsidy which they later sold to brokers,” he added.

Within the same premises, three vehicles, two pick-ups and a Mitsubishi lorry, suspected to be used in the syndicate were found. There were also other consignments of maize, beans and hawkers ware in boxes.

Early this month, 4,000 bags of DAP fertiliser were seized in Kitale in similar circumstances. In the same period, 444 bags were discovered in Meru before another consignment of 3,505 bags of DAP was found hidden in a private warehouse in Nakuru.

These illegal diversions have led to poor Kenya farmers to continue suffering as greedy traders mess up with the government’s bid to boost food security in the country.