439 300
KRA officials domiciled at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, a major gateway of imports have decried the overwhelming cargo at their custom’s stores that owners have failed to meet their stringent conditions before clearance.
The items include assorted sex toys, shisha pipes and drones which must meet very strict legal compliance before gaining entry into the Kenyan market.
Ms Lilian Nyawanda, Commissioner for Customs and Border Control at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), said many Kenyans imported such items oblivious of the stringent permit conditions.
The respective importers have since been given a notice to clear them by the end of this month(September), failure to which they will be auctioned or destroyed.
“Most passengers are unknowledgeable or un-informed on prohibitions of goods such as shisha and sex toys and restrictions imposed on goods such as drones and firearms,” Ms Lilian Nyawanda said.
“The warehouse has very limited capacity owing to the slow rate at which permits are issued for restricted items such as drones or frequency at which destructions are conducted for prohibited imports,” Ms Nyawanda said.
A huge pile-up of the restricted items at the JKIA customs warehouses has now become a concern with the taxman giving importers a notice to clear them by the end of this month(September).Loading…
Items not collected by lapse of the September 30 deadline will be auctioned or destroyed, KRA said.
c/o Nation