Eight suspects were Wednesday arraigned at Milimani law courts after a consignment of subsidized fertilizer vanished between April 18 and April 27, 2023.
The Kenya National Trading Company logistics (KNTC), had contracted a private company to deliver 281 tonnes, equivalent to 5,620 bags each weighing 50kgs of the subsidized fertilizer, from warehouses in Mombasa to various destinations in the country.
However, the goods were diverted to different destinations in the country prompting swift action by the detectives.
"The consignment was transported in 10 trucks but only two trucks delivered the fertilizer to their intended destination in Kericho and Ol Moran, Laikipia County, as the remaining eight trucks diverted 4,520 bags to an unknown destination,” noted the DCI.
On April 29, 2023, KNTC’s logistics manager was informed that a consignment of 560 bags, which had been dispatched on April 27, destined for the National Cereals and Produce Board in Lessons, Nandi County, had not been delivered.
The driver of the truck ferrying the fertilizers said he received a call from an unidentified caller posing as an agent of KNTC, who instructed him to stop at a shopping centre 25 kilometres away from Lessos.
“The consignment was offloaded and loaded into two waiting trucks after stamping the delivery instruction with a KNTC Eldoret receiver stamp before the lorries drove off to an unknown destination,” noted the DCI.
The detectives are yet to establish the whereabouts of the 4,520 bags that disappeared.
According to the DCI, the suspects are believed to have taken advantage of the ongoing efforts by the Government to help farmers access the commodity at a reduced cost.