Kenyan police on Friday arrested 10 government officials as they intensify crackdown on contraband sugar widely in circulation across the country.

The officials from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), the country’s quality assurance body which certifies goods, are being questioned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over contraband sugar which have been impounded in the county that has high content of copper and lead.

DCI Director George Kinoti confirmed the arrest, saying they are interrogating at least ten officials from KEBS after investigations showed a bad trend of circulation of poisonous sugar.

"They need to explain how the country is feeding poisonous sugar. Copper and lead are dangerous to humans,” Kinoti said.

The police believed that goods that are unfit for human consumption have been allowed to flood the local market with the connivance of KEBS officials working in cahoots with traders.

The security officers who have been conducting raids in major downs in the country have vowed to continue with inspections to ensure Kenyans are not exposed to poisonous sugar.

The police said some of the KEBS officials have been colluding with unscrupulous traders to print fake stickers which are then used by smugglers and counterfeiters.

The arrest comes amid confusion after three Cabinet Secretaries clashed over claims that sugar being sold in several parts of the country contains mercury.

The KEBS Managing Director Charles Ongwae on Thursday denied allegations of any traces of the chemical substance in sugar that was imported into Kenya.

He, however, indicated that some samples were found to contain copper and lead.

Kinoti said they wanted to understand how contraband goods do get into the country, measures that KEBs have in place to stop the trend, and how many cases they have detected so far. 

Xinhua