The Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) has intercepted counterfeit sugar and cooking oil worth about Ksh10 million smuggled into Kenya from Somalia.
The goods were recovered on Thursday, August 21, after a multi-agency team stopped three lorries at the Sabaki Security Patrol Point in Malindi. Eight suspects were arrested and taken to Malindi Police Station.
According to ACA Executive Director Mbugua Njoroge, the haul included 676 bags of fake sugar packed under brands such as Butali, jerricans of cooking oil, and the trucks used to ferry them.
Njoroge warned that the smuggling trade not only cheats the country of revenue but also feeds into criminal networks.
“Counterfeit sugar and oil are not just unsafe for consumers. They hurt our farmers, undermine the local sugar industry, and can even fund organized crime and terror activities,” he said.
The authority estimates that counterfeit goods cost Kenya about Ksh153 billion in lost taxes every year and threaten more than 40,000 jobs. In the last year alone, ACA arrested over 120 suspects and recovered counterfeit goods worth more than Ksh500 million.
Internationally, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that counterfeit and pirated goods are worth USD 509 billion, or 3.3 percent of global trade.
The UN has also expressed concern over connections between counterfeiting, organized crime, and extremist networks.
The Malindi seizure comes days after detectives in Nairobi arrested six people, among them four Kenyans, a Congolese, and a Tanzanian, over fake U.S. dollars. Police said bundles of counterfeit currency, replicas, and other printing materials were recovered in the operation.
