Three vehicles concealed as household goods impounded at Mombasa port
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials in Mombasa on Wednesday impounded three vehicles at the port concealed as household goods and personal effects in what is suspected to be an attempted case of tax evasion.
KRA Commissioner for Customs and Border Control Kevin Safari announced the incident on his Twitter handle.
“A consignment of suspected concealed vehicles was nabbed at the port of Mombasa. The consignment was declared as household goods and personal effects,” said Mr Safari.
Mr Safari said one suspect has been arrested and helping with investigations.
In July this year KRA intercepted a consignment of ethanol and a luxury car at the Mombasa Port that had evaded Sh 12 million of tax.
A consignment of suspected concealed vehicles has been nabbed at the port of Mombasa. The consignment was declared as Household goods and personal effects. pic.twitter.com/CyIUrc7Aiy
— Commissioner, Customs & Border Control – KRA (@CommSafari) July 30, 2019
CONCEALED GOODS
In a statement on July 4, the taxman said it had nabbed 144 drums of imported ethanol as well as a high end vehicle identified as a Range Rover Sport.
“The two were intercepted following intelligence reports; they were scanned through KRA’s non-intrusive scanners and the images showed inconsistency with what had been manifested,” KRA said.
The ethanol had been concealed as 1,000 bags of cement while the Range Rover Sport had been concealed second hand window frames, doors, folding chairs, stools and wall pictures.
KRA noted the high end vehicle, en route from Dubai to Uganda, is suspected to have been stolen from the United Kingdom.
“A multi-agency team lead by KRA undertook 100% verification on the consignment and confirmed that the three containers were indeed carrying 28,800 litres of concealed ethanol and a Range Rover,” KRA added.