Kenya Revenue Authority officers recently found a secret underground chamber hidden under a bathroom floor in Kimosop Central, Baringo County.
The space was used to store suspected illicit ethanol and tobacco.
The discovery happened during a raid based on intelligence. Officers from the North Rift region worked with police from Baringo Central Police Station and local administrators to carry out the operation.
The homestead they targeted belonged to a suspected illicit alcohol trader. Getting inside proved difficult because the place had more than six gates, which appeared designed to slow down or block outsiders. Once the team managed to enter, they searched the compound carefully.
That search led them to the bathroom, where they found the hidden room built beneath the floor.Inside the chamber, officers recovered nine 30-litre jerricans filled with suspected ethanol, along with 40 sachets that each held 200 millilitres of the same substance. They also seized six kilograms of tobacco.
KRA put the total value of these goods at about Sh226,292. The authority noted that the government stood to lose roughly Sh170,212 in taxes if the items had reached the market.
The suspect managed to escape while officers were still searching the property. Efforts to find and arrest him are continuing. After the raid, the scene was secured so that the seized goods could be properly processed and further investigations carried out.
KRA described the hidden chamber as an example of the more sophisticated methods some traders are using to hide illegal products and avoid detection.
The operation forms part of ongoing work to disrupt the illicit trade in alcohol and tobacco. Officials said such activities harm both government revenue and public health, since unregulated products can put consumers at risk.
The authority added that it will keep working with other government agencies to go after people involved in this kind of illegal business.
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