Six posh vehicles reported to have been stolen and smuggled into the country were impounded at the Mombasa port by the detectives from the Serious Crime Unit.
The three Range Rovers and three Mercedes Benz vehicles were reported as stolen in South Africa and the U.K.
International Police (Interpol) disclosed that one of the Mercedes cars was stolen from one Mrs Tshegofasto Mabyane.
“Further investigations by Interpol established that one of the Mercedes Benzes was robbed from Mrs Tshegofasto Mabyane in South Africa and one of the Range Rovers was reported stolen in the UK,” said the DCI.
One of the Range Rovers is the vehicle believed to have been stolen from the United Kingdom.
Preliminary investigations further reveal that the other Range Rover bore the registration number of a Toyota Probox.
The other vehicles had been processed as semi-trailers.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said the luxury vehicles will be handed over to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for proper processing before they are returned to the original countries.
“…No one will steal from one country and enjoy the sweat of others while in another country,” said the DCI according to Citizen TV Kenya.
In April this year, a Range Rover vehicle said to belong to controversial politician Steve Mbogo was impounded.
According to the DCI, duty fees for the white Range Rover had not been paid and the number plate was fraudulently obtained.
“Upon carrying out preliminary investigations, the vehicle number plates were found to belong to a Probox,” the DCI said at the time.
According to Nairobi News in March, officials of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) intercepted three high-end fuel guzzlers at the Mombasa Port which were in transit to Uganda.
The three vehicles – a Range Rover Sport, a Range Rover Vogue and Land Rover Discovery – confirmed stolen in Interpol’s motor vehicles database, were reportedly concealed in a container which was supposed to be ferrying household goods.
In 2015, a report in the UK’s Independent newspaper reported that the British police and their East African counterparts had seized stolen vehicles worth more than Sh161 million in Uganda.
Many buyers in Kenya and Uganda are unaware that the cars they are buying are stolen, the report added.
The vehicles are sold with what appears to be legal documents but have either been faked or acquired through corruption.
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