Government Confiscated and Burnt 8000 illegal Firearms In 2019

The Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government has announced that it confiscated about 8000 illegal firearms which were burnt in 2019.

Interior CS, Dr. Fred Matiang’I said on Wednesday, February 19, 2020, that the number would increase in 2020 as a multi-agency task force is running a serious crackdown to reduce illegal trade of ammunition in the country.

CS Matiang’i announced that over 300,000 bullets were also confiscated in 2019 and were burnt together with the firearms.

Addressing the issue of increased illegal trade at the port of Mombasa, CS Matiangi pointed out that the Mombasa port is being used as a conduit for conducting illicit trading activities.

“We have got serious issues recently with the number of arms in illegal hands. The firearms destroyed are only the ones we managed to get from conflict areas in the country,” CS Matiang’i said.

As the hub of Trade in East and Central Africa, Mombasa has been at the center of transportation of goods. In 2019, the port handled 34 million shillings tons of through port cargoes to Kenya which is a sharp increase from 28.5 million shillings tons in 2018 during the same period.

Cases of illicit trading activities have recently been on the rise at the port of Mombasa which has tainted the name of the coastal port immensely.

Human Trafficking, Drug trafficking, smuggling of stolen items, trading of Counterfeit goods to name but a few have all been done at the port of Mombasa.

“It tells you that we have very serious problems that we need to deal with when it comes to checking the movement of goods and services through our ports,” Matiang’i said.

Currently ranked as the fifth largest and busiest port in Africa, the Mombasa port recorded increased cargo transportation by 10 percent in 2019 as compared to 2018.

Matiang’i said the completion of the Lamu port will be a boost to the cargo traffic at the coastal region.

“We are sure once we operationalize Lamu Port also, we will be having massive cargo movement in our ports.”