Kenya Revenue Authority has seized over 25,000 pieces of counterfeit excise stamps and 5,000 bottles of sky-falls drinking water.
The bottles were all affixed with counterfeit excise stamps at a water refilling plant in Industrial Area, Nairobi County.
KRA officers were acting on an intelligence report when they carried out the operation and arrested the proprietor of Tabito Packaging & Suppliers.
The factory premises were sealed and the plant closed. The proprietor is working with the authority to unearth the source of the counterfeit excise stamps.
This incident comes two months after KRA closed another water manufacturing plant at Ramula Trading Centre off Ramula-Luanda road where several fake excise stamps were found during a night raid in January.
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During the raid, KRA officers seized 49 cases of bottled water affixed with counterfeit excise stamps and rolls of counterfeit excise stamps.
The possession or use of fake excise stamps is illegal under the Excise Duty Act, 2015 and the Excise Duty (Excisable Goods Management System) Regulations, 2017.
KRA sought to remind all licensed manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers and general public that all excisable goods other than motor vehicles are required to be affixed with excise stamps in compliance with the law.
The authority, in collaboration with other government agencies in the Multi- Agency Team, has been carrying out intelligence operations and crackdowns to stamp out illicit goods from the market.
KRA says the fight against illicit trade seeks to protect the public from harmful goods, create fair market competition and to protect revenue.
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