The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested three more suspects and recovered approximately 3,500 bags of assorted suspected counterfeit fertiliser during an operation in Soy Sub-County, Uasin Gishu County, as the agency intensifies its crackdown on the illegal fertiliser trade.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The arrests were made after detectives from the DCI Headquarters Operations Action Team (OAT), acting on intelligence, raided premises in the Kabenes area, where they uncovered a large stock of suspected counterfeit fertiliser believed to be linked to an organised criminal network.

The recovered fertiliser has been secured as exhibits, while the suspects remain in police custody awaiting arraignment.

Detectives have also launched a manhunt for other persons of interest believed to be connected to the illegal operation.

📌 What You Need to Know

The latest operation marks another breakthrough in the DCI's ongoing efforts to dismantle criminal networks involved in the manufacture, adulteration and distribution of counterfeit agricultural inputs across the country.

The arrests come just days after detectives recovered another 624 bags of suspected counterfeit fertiliser during a separate operation in Moiben Sub-County, indicating that authorities are closing in on a wider network operating in Uasin Gishu County.

During that operation, detectives raided a homestead in Kapsubere Village, Karuna Hills, where they recovered 550 bags of suspected adulterated Urea and DAP fertiliser believed to have been diverted from the government's subsidised fertiliser programme.

However, four suspects escaped into a nearby maize plantation during the raid and remain at large as detectives continue pursuing them.

The operation was later extended to Ziwa Sirikwa, where detectives searched another store suspected to be linked to the illegal trade.

The search led to the recovery of an additional 64 bags of DAP fertiliser branded "Elgon Kenya" and 10 bags of Mavuno fertiliser, each weighing 50 kilograms, bringing the total seizure in that operation to 624 bags.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke