Tanzanians arrested with explosive detonators in Kenya

The Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) is holding three people among them Tanzania nationals who were nabbed with 1,000 pieces of explosive detonators in Taita Taveta.

The suspects were arrested in Mwakitau along the Taveta-Mombasa highway by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers from the Taveta-Holili one-stop border point (OSBP) on Friday.

“The KRA team, backed by Administration Police officers attached to the OSBP, while on routine patrols intercepted the devices while being transported together with tobacco by a truck no. T143ARG at around 5.30pm, one kilometre from Maktau roadblock, Taita Taveta County,” KRA Coast regional coordinator John Bisonga said in a statement.

The suspects are a driver of the truck and his turnboy, both identified as Tanzanian, and a person who presented himself at the station with a mining permit and claiming to be the owner of the detonators.

KRA said a multiagency team including police and officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) confirmed the truckload contained of 1,000 pieces of detonators, which had been packed in 10 boxes containing 100 pieces each.

Mr Bisonga said the consignment had been declared at the border as raw tobacco from Moshi, northern Tanzania and was destined for Mombasa.

However, after inspection by customs officers who had stopped the truck, two packages of Supreme Plain detonators were found in the cabin. The vehicle was escorted back to the border crossing.

“Upon being interviewed, the driver claimed the detonators were handed over to him at Taveta town to be delivered to the owner at Mwatate,” KRA said in the statement.

The vehicle and the detonators were impounded in the Customs warehouse.

The suspects will be charged with contravening the Explosives Act after investigations by the detectives.