A shopkeeper was arrested in Kienja Village, Kirinyaga West Sub-County during a major crack down on contraband goods.

This was during an operation by a multi agency team led by Kirinyaga County Commissioner, Mr. Hussein Araso.

In a statement dated September 3, 2025, police reported that the raid followed a tip off from members of the public.

Acting on intelligence, the team stormed a shop suspected of dealing with contraband cigarettes.

“After a thorough search at the premises police discovered various contraband items, including 94 cartons of supermatch cigarettes , 89,000 bundles of polythene bags, 4 opened cartons of supermatch cigarettes , and 64 packets of Oris cigarettes,” stated the police.

One suspect was aprehhended and placed in police custody awaiting processing and arraignment in court.

The recovered goods have been secured as exhibits.

Meanwhile, the National Police Service commended members of the public for their vigilance and encouraged continued cooperation in the fight against contraband goods and other illegal activities.

A similar crackdown was carried out on December 22, 2024 in Kajiado County, when a multi-agency team intercepted a lorry carrying contraband cigarettes worth over Ksh 50 million on the Namanga-Nairobi Highway.

The operation, targeted the truck at Kimalat along the Kitengela-Namanga road.

The 24-foot lorry, registration number KBN 216F, was found loaded with over 1,000 cartons of export-only cigarettes.

Each carton contained 5,000 packets, bringing the total haul to over 5 million cigarette packets.

Shockingly, the cargo had been fraudulently declared as ‘sunflowers’ at Namanga Customs, with stamped documentation allowing its entry into the country despite the availability of scanners for inspections.