Why Northern sacco had operations of its fleet of buses suspended
Details of how the Northern E Coach Travelers Sacco suspended can now be revealed.
According to sources who spoke to Nairobi News the fleet of buses working under the sacco have been engaging in the business of transporting contrabands from Somalia to Kenya.
This emerged after police officers drawn from a multi-agency team who were conducting routine traffic check along the Garissa-Thika Highway intercepted one bus (reg number KBX 267K) that was ferrying the goods.
The sources say a search on the bus revealed that it had various compartments containing secret storage bins underneath the floor of the bus.
“The manner and design of the said partition not only allows for the concealment and transport of contraband goods but may also be used to ferry dangerous weapons and explosive,” a statement from the police read.
The driver of the bus, a certain Mr Mahamed Takar Sheikhow, and two conductors – Yasir Dar Kedie and Abdirahman Hassan Mohamed – were arrested during the incident.
CONTRABAND
A police report seen by Nairobi News indicates that the bus was ferrying 49 cartons of Batook type chewing gums, four cartons containing 25 pieces of Tres Orix-Forte (medicine), pain relief tablets, 286 tins of (2.5kgs) of red cow powder milk among other contraband.
Other items seized from the bus included 37 tins of Anchor powder milk and 42 tins of 2.5kg labeled as Nura powder milk.
Inspector General of Police, Mr Hillary Mutyambai, on Thursday afternoon issued a stern warning to PSVs operating in the route which are involved in the ferrying of an illegal substance.
“We shall not stop until we ensure that sanity is brought back to the roads, we are dealing with the insecurity problem in the vast Northeastern and we shall ensure that we succeed,” he said.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has since suspended the company’s operations.