Hundreds of Kenyans could lose their vehicles after it emerged that employees of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) are cloning number plates and fraudulently registering cars for sale.
Police yesterday arrested 19 of the authority’s employees in a bid to smash the number plate-cloning ring, believed to be aiding terrorists.
The ring, comprising officials attached to the Licensing, Information Technology, Inspection and the Registration of Motor Vehicles departments of the NTSA, has been helping criminals to duplicate number plates for stolen vehicles and those used for criminal activities.
Officers from the Flying Squad, the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), raided the NTSA offices in Upper Hill, Nairobi, to find out how the ring operates and eventually prosecute those involved in a crime that helped terrorists to stage the 14 Riverside Drive attack that led to the loss of 21 lives.
The Flying Squad had revealed that the number plate of the Toyota Ractis (KCN 340E) believed to have been used by the attackers was not a fake, but a duplicate of an existing one.
Another car of the same make and similar description was impounded on January 16 in Kitengela, Kajiado County. It had the original number plate.
The raid took place as an official at the NTSA was charged over the registration of the vehicle used by the attackers.