The police in Nyanza region have arrested 221 people in a sting operation to crack down on illegal bars and illicit brews in the area.

Nyanza Regional Commissioner Flora Mworoa said more than 500 raids have been conducted in the area since the operation started on Thursday last week with over 20 non-compliant establishments closed.

She said officials from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA), and County Government Liquor licensing officers had been incorporated in the operation to rid the region of illicit brews and narcotics.

Security officers, she added, have intensified patrols along Lake Victoria to curb the transportation of illicit brews through the water body.

The Government has declared total war on manufacturers, sellers, and facilitators of toxic illicit brew including security and National Government Administration Officers following the deaths of 17 people last month.