In a stunning twin blow to Kenya’s illicit alcohol trade, a multi-agency team led by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has dismantled two major counterfeit operations in Mombasa and Nairobi, netting hundreds of thousands of litres of suspect products and apprehending key suspects.
The synchronized crackdown began at dawn in Kongowea, Mombasa County, targeting four outlets and the residence of a man described as an influential figure in the county’s shadow economy. The operation revealed a massive consignment of suspected counterfeit alcohol, some bearing suspicious Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) stamps that failed verification, and others illicitly stamped with labels belonging to different, legitimate products.
In a shocking discovery, NACADA CEO Dr. Anthony Omerikwa revealed that the suspect’s home, raided based on precise intelligence, shares a fence with Kongowea Primary School. “It is utterly shocking that a counterfeiting hub is located next to a school and within a residential area,” Dr. Omerikwa stated at the scene. “This signals the new, desperate tactics being employed by these criminals following heightened pressure and seizures by the Government in line with the Presidential directive on the renewed fight against alcohol and drug abuse.”
The NACADA team had conducted lengthy undercover surveillance on the suspect prior to the bust. All four targeted outlets were also found to be operating without valid liquor licenses.
Simultaneously, in a separate operation in Nairobi, a NACADA-led team comprising the National Police Service (NPS) and KRA struck a major distributor along Kirinyaga Road in the Central Business District. Acting on an outcry from legitimate brand owners, the raid resulted in the arrest of one suspect and the recovery of a staggering 7,352 bottles (250ml) of assorted suspected counterfeit alcoholic brands, amounting to 312 cartons.
The Nairobi suspect is in custody at Jogoo Road Police Station, while the seized exhibits, from a wide array of brands, have been secured by KRA in a warehouse along Mombasa Road.
The twin operations underscore a significant escalation in the national crackdown on illicit alcohol. The Mombasa raid, in particular, highlights the brazen infiltration of criminal networks into residential and educational zones, adapting their operations to evade detection. NACADA’s decisive action, leveraging intelligence and inter-agency collaboration, marks a critical victory in safeguarding public health from the devastating effects of counterfeit spirits.
