Thika police impound truck with illegal charcoal, arrest one suspect.

The lorry that was on Friday night nabbed at BAT Makongeni ferrying 200 bags of charcoal without valid authorisation documents

Police in Thika on Friday night impounded a lorry that was ferrying 200 bags of charcoal and arrested one lady along Thika-Garissa Highway.

The officers, who had laid ambush after a tip-off from the public, intercepted the lorry Registration No   KAD 579X, a blue Mitsubishi Fuso at BAT area in Makongeni and upon investigations discovered that the lady owner had no authorization documents to transport the charcoal.

Confirming the incident, Thika West OCPD Willy Simba identified the woman behind the syndicate as Juliana Kaveta adding that the lorry was already in police custody.

“We have arrested a lady by the name Juliana Kaveta and she will be arraigned in court on Tuesday to face charges of transporting forest produce without permit from the Kenya Forest Service as demanded by law,” said Simba.

Simba issued a stern warning to those dealing in illegal forest produce in the wake of a moratorium on logging that is in place for 90 days, saying that stern action will be taken against anyone caught disobeying the government order.

Barely two weeks ago, Thika police intercepted a canter at Ngoingwa area ferrying 350 charter poles. The poles were suspected to have been harvested from Gatanga in Murang’a County.

The canter impounded at Ngoingwa area on 22-03-2018 carrying 350 charter poles from Gatanga in Murang'a County.

Two people were arrested and later arraigned in a Thika court where they were released on a cash bond of KES. 400,000 each.

On February 24^th this year, Deputy President William Ruto suspended logging in government forests and asked Environment secretary Keriako Tobiko to look for a lasting solution to the drying of rivers.

Ruto noted unlawful logging and invasion of forests to build homes have contributed to deforestation.

His order triggered a management shake-up at the Kenya Forest Service in which 15 senior managers, including director Emilio Mugo, were thrown out.

Mugo was replaced by his senior deputy for support services, Monica Kalenda, as the government responded to public outrage over dwindling water and forest resources in the country.

The changes came as thousands of hectares of public forests, ranging from mountain rainforests to savannah woodlands, coastal forests and mangroves, got cleared due to high demand for land and timber.