JKIA’s Customs Store Now Filled with Sex Toys, Shisha Pipes and Drones

JKIA’s Customs Store Now Filled with Tons of Sex Toys, Shisha Pipes and Drones

By Soko Directory Team / Published September 1, 2021 | 9:04 am

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KRA is now calling for the importers to have the goods cleared by end of September 30 before they are auctioned or destroyed.

The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) custom stores are now warehouses for tons of unregistered consignments including sex toys, drones, and shisha pipes.

These large consignments of restricted items have clogged the warehouses as importers delay in registering and clearing them.

In a statement to the Business Daily, the Commissioner for Customs and Border Control at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Ms. Lilian Nyawanda, noted that the goods were imported by Kenyans unaware of the stringent permit conditions required before they are allowed into the market.

“Most passengers are unknowledgeable or un-informed on prohibitions of goods such as shisha and sex toys and restrictions imposed on goods such as drones and firearms,” said Ms. Nyawanda.

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KRA is now calling for the importers to have the goods cleared by end of September 30 before they are auctioned or destroyed.

“The warehouse has very limited capacity owing to the slow rate at which permits are issued for restricted items such as drones or frequency at which destructions are conducted for prohibited imports,” Ms. Nyawanda said.

Kenya’s regulations on drones, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations require importers to pay a fee of 30 US dollars (approximately 3,294 shillings) for bringing in the drones which are increasingly becoming popular for filming and mapping on agricultural farms, among other uses.

To fly the drones in the Kenyan airspace, one is required to obtain the Remote Operators Certificate from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) for 80,000 shillings with an annual renewal fee of around 50,000 shillings.

Furthermore, drone operators require an airworthiness certificate for approximately 5,490 shillings in addition to other fees such as “Beyond Visual line of sight” and “Radiotelephone exam”.

KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe said the majority of importers whose drones are lying at the JKIA have failed to register them.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published in the Business Daily.

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