Vanishing cigarettes: Smuggling rackets that cost Kenya millions

On the night of December 13, 2023, a Mercedes Actros truck left Mastermind Tobacco Ltd’s premises in Nairobi with at least 1,150 cartons of SuperMatch cigarettes worth Sh55 million, for South Sudan.

The lorry had been sealed to ensure that taxes worth Sh14.1 million would be paid and had an escort.

However, the whereabouts of the cigarettes that vanished between Eldoret and the Malaba highway is still a mystery to date. It ended up being empty.

The driver, Charles Maina and George Mwendwa, a security escort, ended up on the dock, accused of interfering with customs goods. They denied the charges.

However, Maina was found guilty. Mwendwa was acquitted. Malaba Court magistrate Antoinette Ogange last year fined Maina Sh200,000, failure to which he was directed to serve two years imprisonment.

In his story, the driver told the court that he was allegedly called by one Evans Kunda, who informed him that there was a consignment from Mastermind which needed to be driven to South Sudan. The consignment, according to him, was loaded in two vehicles and was given an escort.

He claimed that Evans Kunda then instructed him to stop at Luqman Petrol Station in Eldoret and wait for the owner and a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) official.

The driver further testified that at around 11 pm, the official showed up and they drove to homestead at Jua Kali area, where the truck was offloaded.

Maina also told the court that the official allegedly informed him to proceed to Malaba for clearance, but upon reaching Amagoro, he was arrested. According to him, Wafula allegedly told him to tell the officers to free him as one Douglas Too, an alleged KRA official, was on the way.

On the other hand, Erasto Muriuki, a former Mastermind employee, told the court that one of the lorries developed a mechanical problem while the second one was driven by Maina. He said that at one point, he could not trace the lorry until 3am.

He testified that he called one John Akili, who informed him that the lorry was on the clearance line, noting that this was not the first case that Mastermind had for dumping cigarettes in Kenya.

Maina’s story is not an isolated one. Millions of cigarettes vanish into thin air while in transit. Last year, 32.5 million cigarettes worth Sh486 million, which were being smuggled, were intercepted.

On January 9, 2026, KRA intercepted over 9.3 million sticks of contraband cigarettes worth Sh281.1 million at the Port of Mombasa. The joint inspection confirmed a consignment of 937 cartons.

The cartons were labelled “Made in Sudan” despite the country of origin being Cambodia. The consignment was routed to Singapore, then Kenya and was en route to South Sudan.

The total taxes on the goods amount to Sh83 million, comprising Sh38 million in excise duty and Sh44.98 million in Value Added Tax (VAT).

Earlier in December 2024, a multi-agency team led by KRA intercepted a consignment of 1,135 cartons of Supermatch Cigarettes smuggled from Tanzania worth Sh113 million.

Upon interception, the cigarettes were booked at Isinya Police Station. The uncustomed goods, which had been declared at the border post as Sunflower Seedcake, originated from Tanzania.

They were intercepted on Saturday at the Kimalat area along the Namanga-Kitengela highway in Kaijado County following an intelligence-led operation. The cartons contain 5.6 million sticks. The consignment has a total tax implication of Sh95 million.

In another classical smuggling case, KRA investigators in December 2025 unearthed a cigarette concealment and smuggling scheme along the Kenya and South Sudan border.

The successful sting operation was conducted following an intensive intelligence-led operation indicating a high-tech concealment trick used by a smuggling ring to bring uncustomed goods into Kenya undetected.

The intelligence-led operation along the Northern corridor materialised on December 9, when a 40-foot container from South Sudan entered Kenya through Nadapal border point, where it was declared as empty.'

The truck’s movement was tracked and eventually intercepted at Makutano junction in Kapenguria on December 10, 2025, at 1200hrs. Upon verification, investigators discovered that the trailer part of the truck has two hidden compartments meant to conceal smuggled goods.

A total of 316 cartons and 364 packets, equivalent to 3.1 million pieces of cigarettes, all branded SuperMatch originating from South Sudan, were retrieved from the two hidden compartments.

The cigarettes, valued at Sh31.6 million and Sh18 million in taxes, were then seized together with the truck.

“KRA, in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, has put in place a robust mechanism for detecting, deterring and disrupting illicit trade and other forms of tax evasion. These interceptions underscore KRA's unwavering commitment to the illicit trade,” said KRA’s acting commissioner, Investigation and Enforcement Doreen Mbingi.

In 2022, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that KRA had unfairly retired Felix Siata in yet another Sh762 million cigarettes smuggling saga.

Siata told the court that he was crucified, despite being away from the station, and the gate operations not being under his name. The claim surrounded the alleged fraudulent exportation of Supermatch Cigarettes from Uganda, denying KRA some Sh762 million in taxes.

KRA claimed that cigarettes from Kampala, Uganda’s Leaf Tobacco and Commodities (U) Ltd, were being dumped into the Kenyan market through the Malaba border station.

It asserted that the burden lay on Siata, who was in 2012 in charge of the station. However, Justice Anna Mwaure said there was no evidence to show that Siata was involved.

According to her, it needed a water-tight investigation for KRA to conclude that he was culpable. She ordered that he be compensated for wrongful dismissal.

“The case before me is a very serious case where the respondent alleges that the respondent lost Sh762 million due to tax evasion,” said Justice Mwaure.

"The evidence adduced by the respondent needed to be watertight for the investigating officers. It was also a case that should have been investigated by the anti-corruption officers."