Kenya’s macadamia farmers have been dealt a brutal blow after it emerged that Chen Fangfang, a Chinese national on a tourist visa, masterminded a smuggling racket worth over Sh200 million. Her operations openly defied Kenya’s laws and revealed deep cracks within the country’s port control system.
Chen entered the country on April 6 posing as a tourist. Within days she was in Thika, buying raw nuts and hiring locals to load shipments. Behind the cover of tourism, she built a smuggling pipeline that bled farmers of income and mocked Kenya’s regulatory framework.
Fake Paperwork, Real Theft
On April 12, Chen and her Kenyan aide, Davis Muchoki Muriithi, loaded their first container (FFAU6547030). The paperwork said tarpaulins, destined for a Mozambican firm. The truth? Raw macadamia nuts headed straight to China.
Six more containers followed, all falsely declared as “awnings” and “sunblinds.” Records at the Kenya Ports Authority showed them “on hold” in Mombasa. Yet by August, three containers — PCIU9329018, GAOU7572631, and CIPU5254319 — had already landed in Ningbo, China. The breach was not an accident; it was collusion. Who cleared goods supposedly frozen in port? Who pocketed the bribes?
A Tourist Visa Turned Smuggling Pass
For nearly half a year, Chen lived in Kenya with nothing more than a tourist visa. No work permit. No trade license. Yet she ran a multimillion-shilling export business under the noses of Immigration and port authorities. The Agriculture and Food Authority’s ban on raw macadamia exports is meant to protect farmers and drive local processing. Chen’s operations shredded this law with impunity.
Almost Busted Again
By September 3, Chen was still at it. Surveillance cameras caught her at Mombasa Port preparing to push through three more containers. This time, authorities flagged the consignment before it sailed, narrowly stopping yet another heist. But the near-miss only deepens the mystery: how many consignments have already disappeared, and how many officials are part of the chain?
The Rotten Questions
How did Immigration allow a tourist to run an illegal business for months?
Why did no red flags go up after the first shipment?
How do “on hold” containers walk out of Mombasa and reappear in China?
Who inside KPA and government circles is pocketing the proceeds?
Farmers Betrayed
For farmers, the theft is personal. Every illegal shipment robs them of fair prices, strangles local processors, and undermines years of work to make Kenya a leader in value addition. Instead of jobs and factories, profits are lining the pockets of cartels.
Chen Fangfang was not working alone. She is the face of a bigger network — insiders, brokers, and compromised officials who turned Kenya’s ports into a smuggler’s paradise. Unless this cartel is exposed and dismantled, Kenya’s farmers will remain the losers, and the country’s borders will stay wide open to theft disguised as trade.
Leave a Comment