City tycoon Mukhtar Omar arrested over expired diapers seized in raid
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives on Thursday arrested a city tycoon suspected to have imported and repackaged expired baby diapers.
Businessman Mukhtar Rehemtulla Omar was arrested and taken to Parklands Police Station. He will be arraigned in court on Friday.
According to the police, Omar will face three counts among them importation and sale of substandard baby diapers branded Ezee.
He will also be charged with attempting to sell the substandard diapers without a valid Import Standardization Mark (IS-Mark) or a permit issued by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS.)
FIVE TONNES OF DIAPERS
In October, DCI summoned Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) officials, clearing agents, transporters and the owner of a go-down after the recovery of more than five tonnes of expired baby diapers.
Detectives pounced on employees of the Mlolongo go-down and found them repackaging and rebranding the diapers to conceal the real expiry dates, which ranged between January and May 2017.
Six workers found repackaging the products at the Eens Godown were arrested. Investigators said they are trying to establish if the go-down, situated on Mombasa Road, has any links with a leading haulage company.
Police were forced to break into the warehouse after the owner failed to show up.
The diapers were later taken to the DCI offices on Kiambu Road in Nairobi.
Eeze Products is a brand name that was launched by Vivek Investments Limited two years ago. Contacted for comment, the company said that it was not aware of the raid.
“I am not aware of any raid and our products are detergents only, but the brand name resembles ours,” said a communication officer.