How safe is the milk power in Nairobi shops? 5 arrested selling contraband products
Police in Nairobi are detaining five suspects who have been selling contraband milk products.
In an undercover operation conducted on Saturday, January 6, 2024, the five identified as Abdullahi Mohamed, Said Ali Yusuf, Abdinoor Rashid Mulsal, Abdirizack Said Ali and Ahmed Abdirizak Adan were nabbed as they tried to sell the products at a cost of Sh815,000.
“The criminal syndicate has been releasing substandard and harmful products to the market, illegal ventures that not only cause unfair competition with genuine sellers but also put consumers’ health on the line,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement.
The officers identified Abdullahi Mohamed as a notorious broker who had secured a deal to sell them 50 bags of the milk powder, each weighing 25 kilograms at a cost of Sh16,300 per bag.
The detectives were then directed to a godown identified as Halgan Store which is located along Captain Mungai Street off 4th Avenue within Eastleigh.
At the site, loaders were already waiting to start the job, but the owners of the products insisted that they are paid in full before the process of loading could kick off.
“The officers who were only armed with a “down-payment” requested the then furious sellers to let them get the balance, finding a chance to call in the action team that apprehended the suspects,” the statement further read.
The sleuths managed to seize the consignment, which they later realised was even less than they had agreed. Meaning that if paid in full any buyer could have ended up counting losses.
The five suspects will be arraigned in court on Monday, January 8, 2023.
Police said that they have kept as exhibits 14 bags, each weighing 25 kilograms, full of cream milk powder branded fresh daily product of Brookside Uganda covered in sacks. They said that the bags were packed in a deplorable condition.
Other exhibits include 77 containers, each weighing 800 grams of Aptamil breast milk product of the United Kingdom (some of the milk powder containing fungi), and 20 containers, each weighing 400 grams of Nestle Nan Optipro, a Mexican product.
Currently, the officers are working around the clock to nab the main suspect, who is still at large.