Two suspects arrested in Kariobangi for allegedly repackaging expired rice have been detained for a period of 10 days to enable police conclude an going probe.
While giving the ruling, Nairobi Magistrate Paul Mayova gave police the greenlight to continue holding Mbugua Kariuki and Jeremiah Kuria Kimani at Parklands Police Station.
“I authorise the respondents to be held at Parklands Police Station for 10 days,” the court ruled.
According to the police, the two were found repackaging several bags of assorted expired rice into bags of foreign brands with extended expiry dates.
“The recovered rice is unwholesome and not fit for human consumption,’’ court heard.
The court heard that the two are suspected to have supplied other foods stuffs unfit for human consumption to other parts of the country.
Preliminary investigations have so far revealed that the probe team require to extend its inquiry to the Port of Mombasa to authenticate import documents.
Police were reportedly conducting an impromptu raid at a godown in Kariobangi South, Nairobi County where they discovered expired rice being repackaged to to be sold to innocent Kenyans.
The raid followed a tip-off to the multi-agency team that included police and public health officials.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) found the expired rice at the godown that has been trading as Kimende Stores.
The sleuths from Parklands found several suspects repackaging the rice into new bags bearing expiry dates from June 2019 to 2021.
The consignment branded ‘Amar’ and ‘Day to Day’ was being packaged into new bags under the name ‘Red Rose’ and ‘Peacock Parboil Five Star’.
This comes a day after Police in Garissa County intercepted a consignment of brown sugar along the Modika – Modogashe road 50 Kms from Garissa town believed to have been imported illegally from Brazil.
According to the Garissa County police commander Alfred Ongengo, the vehicle was intercepted at Nuno along the Modika-Modogashe road.
The vehicle was ferrying 400 bags of 25kgs brown sugar.
Police in Garissa County were acting on a tip off with the help of officials from the customs department.
Ongengo, said the exact destination of the sugar was not clear but preliminary investigations reveal it was being taken to a wholesale shop of a prominent businessman in the region.