13 arrested, as police recover substandard cement in Athi River, Kitengela

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have nabbed 13 suspects and intercepted eight lorries found loaded with bags of siphoned and repackaged cement, in an operation seeking to clean the market off fake cement.

Jointly with officials from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), the DCI Operations Support Unit mounted an operation targeting hotspots in Athi River, Syokimau and Kitengela, where these illegal activities have been rampant.

Intelligence-led market surveillance was conducted by a multi-agency team that has been investigating cases of substandard cement, siphoning of cement from properly packaged bags which end up being underweight, adulteration of genuine cement with the introduction of pozzolanic dust which reduces the quality, transportation and distribution of the substandard cement, and illegal production of empty bags belonging to major brands to facilitate packaging.

The suspects will be processed and arraigned on Monday even as the operation extends to other part of the country.

Some of the owners of the lorries carrying the substandard cement fled during the operation leaving their vehicles behind. the trucks which were then escorted to KEBS headquarters for further testing of the cement.