This archive report was first published on 26 September 2019.
Kenya's luxury car market has been rocked by a recent Interpol raid that exposed a high-end car smuggling syndicate. The operation, which involved international police and Kenyan detectives, resulted in the impounding of over six high-end vehicles, including three Range Rovers and three Mercedes Benzes.
The vehicles, which were reported stolen in South Africa and the UK, were found to have been illegally registered and processed as semi-trailers. Preliminary investigations revealed that one of the Range Rovers was registered as a Toyota Probox, while another was believed to have been stolen from the UK.
According to Interpol, one of the Mercedes cars was stolen from Mrs. Tshegofasto Mabyane, while the other vehicles were processed as semi-trailers. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has sought international investigation and enforcement agencies to help arrest and prosecute the cartel behind the global vehicle smuggling syndicate.
As part of the investigation, KRA intercepted three high-end fuel guzzlers at the Mombasa Port in March, which were on transit to Uganda. The vehicles, including a Range Rover Sport, a Range Rover Vogue, and a Land Rover Discovery, were confirmed stolen in Interpol's motor vehicles database.
Earlier in June, KRA confiscated 12 top-of-the-range vehicles that were smuggled into the country from the UK. The vehicles, worth millions of shillings, were stolen in the UK last year and shipped in illegally by an international crime syndicate.
Experts warn that buying an imported Range Rover from the UK comes with a high risk of it being stolen. In 2015, British police and their East African partners seized stolen UK cars worth more than Sh161 million in Uganda, highlighting a highly organized syndicate.
“…No one will steal from one country and enjoy the sweat of others while in another country,” the DCI has warned.
