A Secret Brewery plant discovered in the middle of the Kenya-Tanzania borderline, producing illicit liquor

Longido

Authorities have blitzed down an unlicensed alcohol brewing plant that has been operating clandestinely within the ‘No man’s land,’ borderline separating the two countries of Kenya and Tanzania at Namanga.

The Stealth establishment has been churning out strange, unregulated and allegedly toxic alcoholic concoctions in the middle of the international buffer zone.

Upon visiting the site the Tanzania Times discovered that the brewery plant was operating under the ‘Dalton Beverage Factory,’ entity.

The Longido District Commissioner, Marko Ng’umbi revealed that the factory has been operating in the buffer zone hideout for more than two years, churning out counterfeit alcoholic drinks using faked trademark labels of genuine brands.

The plant was run by Kenyans and Tanzanians who have been bottling the drinks using their own-recycled, previously discarded, glass bottles of established beverages such as gins, beer and whiskeys produced in the two neighbouring countries.

Six people, including the factory director, Dalton Karago Mumo and his manager, Kelvin Philipo Karago have already been arrested in connection with the illicit set-up.

Others in the arrested suspects’ list were workers of the filthy and squalid establishment, identified as Judith Mwande, Nduku Mutua and Lucy Kanini Mutua.

There was also a scary looking ghoul-like person who looked demented and was found locked up in a cage-like room, oozing saliva. His identity is unknown so far.

The Police in Arusha Region have confirmed the incident.

Their racket was simple; they would hire young people to collect discarded varieties of liquor and beer bottles from dustbins, landfills and dumpsites.

The bottles will then be dipped in large tanks filled with water for cleaning.

Afterwards, the operators will fill those bottles, with their own brewed beverages, ranging from ordinary beer, whiskey and banana wine all brewed under one roof, using almost similar formula.

The illicit drinks enjoy wider customer base on either side of the border as they are affordable.

The factory also had a syndicate printing press for producing counterfeit, trademark labels and genuine-looking revenue seals and stamps from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Malawi Revenue Authority.

The Assistant Regional Manager of Tanzania Revenue Authority, Edwin Changwe, said the seals were counterfeit but looked extremely convincing and if the consignment was genuine the taxman would have earned 100 million/-.

The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) officer at the Namanga border, Domisian Saasita said they have taken samples from the drinks brewed at the stealth factory and sent them to the government chemist to be analysed if it was fit for human consumption.

But even before the results there are reports that some people who consumed the drinks, developed kidney and stomach problems.

The night ambush at the ‘no man’s land,’ factory revealed dirty containers of the unknown brews as well as their raw materials including rotten and stinking peeled bananas, molasses, strange looking concoctions, the botting machinery and rolls of counterfeit trademark labels, revenue stamps and seals.

But an even scarier discovery was the presence of a ghoul looking human being with long unkempt hair, drooling saliva from his sagging mouth and who was locked inside a cage.