NAIROBI, Dec. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has vowed to step up efforts to curb rampant cargo theft at the Mombasa port, about 500 km southeast of the capital city of Nairobi, The Sunday Standard newspaper reported.

    Cartels operating at the port collude with corrupt KPA staff tosteal containers, and the concerns came to light following the arrest of three people on Tuesday over the theft of a container loaded with imported garments worth over 6 million shillings (76,000 US dollars), the report said.

    Cargo worth millions of shillings is lost annually and 15 containers carrying goods worth over 100 million shillings (1.3 million US dollars) have been reported stolen at the port this year, the paper quoted port officials as saying.

    The KPA managers plan to carry out a comprehensive audit of theport's security operations in a bid to restore integrity among workers, said the report. Enditem