Police intercept suspected uncustomised ethanol disguised as animal feeds

Police officers drawn from Emali police station in Kajiado county on Friday, December 23 intercepted suspected uncustomised ethanol.

In a police report, the ethanol was approximately 28,750 litres.

Police say the consignment disguised as animal feed was intercepted along Emali-Loitoktok road.

Police termed this a great success as it comes amid a heightened country-wide crackdown on contrabands and unscrupulous tax evasion schemes.

The matter remains under investigation and currently, the driver of the lorry has since been arrested and the lorry has been detained.

“Police officers from Email Police Post in Kajiado County while on patrol duties along Emali-Loitoktok Road have intercepted a consignment of 28750 litres suspected to be uncustomed ethanol. The driver of the vehicle that was transporting the consignment disguised as animal feeds was arrested and the vehicle was detained,” part of the report reads.

This comes barely months after the then-acting Inspector General of Police Noor Gabow directed a country-wide police crackdown on all illegal and contraband goods.

In a statement on social media, the acting police boss further directed all commanders to liaise with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials to crack down on other forms of tax evasion schemes.

Through the National Police Service, the crackdown is meant to curb tax evasion.

“The Acting Inspector General of Police Mr Noor Y. Gabow has today directed a country-wide police crackdown on all illegal and contraband goods including other forms of tax evasion schemes.

“This follows the detection of numerous tax evasion schemes around the country which deny the government due revenue to fund public services. The crackdown is to commence with immediate effect under the coordination of respective commanders at all levels,” part of the statement read.

Tax revenue target

This comes as the National Treasury anticipates collecting more revenues this financial year than it did last year.

According to a report by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the National Treasury projects that the revenue collections for this financial year (2022/2023) will increase to Ksh2.462 trillion up from Ksh2.031 trillion collected last financial year.

In its report dubbed Budget Watch for 2022/2023 and the Medium Term, the  PBO said of the Ksh2.46 trillion projected revenue, Ksh2.1 trillion will come from ordinary revenue, while Ksh321 billion will come from Appropriations-in-Aid (AIA) – income that a government department is authorised to retain rather than surrender to the Consolidated Fund.

Income tax is expected to contribute Ksh997 billion to ordinary revenue while Ksh585 billion will come from Value Added Tax collection (VAT).

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