Nairobi — Lack of co-operations from authorities in dealing with culprits is weighing down on the industry, players claim. According to information available to the Nation, several raids have been conducted and suspects apprehended.

However, the prosecutions have failed the fight, leading to loss in revenue by the authorities as in most cases suspects walk away free. It is estimated that Kenya looses billions of shillings annually to the trade of illegal cigarettes. Independent sources say that the scheme is a cash cow and governments and companies are suffering the consequences.

In a recent article on smuggling of cigarettes in the East African Community, Mr Enoch Walugembe of BAT said companies loose about Sh225 million while traders loose about Sh150 million annually. "This about 25 per cent of the cigarette consumption causing the loss of Sh7.5 billion a year in tobacco taxes," said Mr Walugembe.

The most affected brands of cigarettes in the region by the illegal racketeers are Supermatch, Sportsman and Dunhill. This has consequently led to local manufactures to invest heavily on security and monitoring units to curb the growing trend.

But in what might defeat justice, several of the impounded consignments do not find their way to courts. It is believed that they might be finding their way back to the local market through unscrupulous means.

As a result most of the firm's feel that the Kenya Revenue Authority is not doing enough in helping the fight. The local manufacturers have already brought the situation to the attention of the commissioner general Mr Michael Waweru.

"There is an urgent need to address the issues offering counterfeiters the opportunity to exploit and bring in counterfeit products which are costing our economy billions of Kenya shillings," reads one of the letters from a manufacturer to Mr Waweru.