Just in; DCI Release Names and Photos of 8 People Who Are Suspects in Subsidized Fertilizer Theft

A shipment of subsidized fertilizer vanished between April 18 and April 27 of this year while being carried across the country. Eight people have been charged in connection with the disappearance.

Yesterday, after a thorough investigation by detectives from the DCI Operations Unit, the suspects were arraigned at the Milimani Law courts on charges of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony contrary to Section 393 of the Penal Code and Stealing Goods in Transit contrary to Section 297(c) of the Penal Code. 

Quick action by the investigators was prompted by the suspects’ alleged exploitation of the government’s continuous attempts to assist farmers in gaining access to the product at a reduced cost and the suspects’ subsequent diversion of the commodity to an unspecified location. Mombasa-based Kenya National Trading Company logistics officer Moses Kata filed complaint OB No. 31/4/5/2023 with the Mikindani Police Station after fertilizer went missing. 

The corporation hired Yellow Arrow Express Limited to transport 281 metric tons of the subsidized fertilizer from storage facilities in Mombasa to various locations around the country. This equates to 5,620 bags, each of which can hold 50 kilograms of fertilizer. Ten vehicles carried the load, but only two made it to Kericho and Ol Moran in Laikipia County, where the fertilizer was supposed to be used. The other eight trucks took the 4,520 bags to some unknown location.

On April 29, the logistics manager at KNTC was informed that 560 bags of fertilizer, which had been shipped on April 27 and were en route to the National Cereals and Produce Board in Lessons, Nandi County, had gone missing.

The driver of the vehicle transporting the 560 bags of CAN fertilizer claims that he received a call from an unknown caller impersonating as a KNTC agent and telling him to pull into a shopping center located 25 kilometers outside of Lessos. After the delivery instruction was stamped with a KNTC Eldoret receiver stamp, the shipment was unloaded and loaded into two waiting vehicles. The trucks then drove off to an unidentified location. The locations of the 4,520 missing bags have not yet been determined by investigators.

Joseph Muthama, Stanely Muthama, Martin Munyao, and Joseph Muthama are among the eight suspects who have been apprehended so far. Beatrice Mwikali, Fredrick Gateri, Anthony Ngei, and Eric Ng’ang’a are the others. 

In addition to these two, there are eight other suspects still at large, and investigators are pursuing vital leads that may lead to their capture.

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