A Briton and two Kenyans have been arrested in connection with the Sh360 million cocaine seized at the Port of Mombasa from South America last week. The drug owner gave the raid team the slip, however. "We almost did it, but other security teams were in a hurry to get the evidence. Our main aim was to get the suspected drug baron and the cocaine consignment," a source said. The source, who asked not to be named, is part of the team. The raid on the drugs was carried out secretly by teams from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Kenya's National Intelligence Service.
The three were arrested on Saturday and are being questioned at a secret location in Nairobi by a team of US anti-drug agency and Kenya anti-narcotic officers. Highly placed sources indicate the three are linked to a drug smuggling cartel of the highly valued cocaine from Brazil. They had been trailed by foreign and local anti-narcotic authorities for months.
Officers intercepted the containers containing the cocaine concealed as sugar upon arrival at the port on transit to Uganda on Wednesday. Each container was loaded with 520 bags of sugar. It is alleged the bill of lading was doctored and the cargo transferred from the MSC Letizia, with registration number SV. SS621R, to the MSC Posetano at a port in Oman. The bill of lading was printed on July 29.
The identities of the crew on-board the vessel remained scanty. A Drug Enforcement Agency officer, who sought anonymity, said Kenyan authorities failed to notify the Navy when the vessel reached 250-300 nautical miles from the port. This would have enabled the arrest and interrogation of its crew interrogated before docking.
According to port documents, the 18 containers were loaded in the MSC Posetano at Santos Port in Brazil on June 20. The bill of lading indicated that container numbers MEDU6150171, FC1U2538572, CXDU1485416, TGHU0476524, MSCU6712626 and MEDU3967337 contained brown sugar on transit to Uganda by Mshale Commodities, which is located in Bugolobi, Industrial Area.
A US team arrived at the port two weeks ago and secretly met senior KPA officials before proceeding to inspect scanners. “We coordinated the operations from Nairobi and Mombasa and managed to arrest the suspects in Nairobi and seize the drugs when the ship docked at the port,” said a senior anti narcotic officer.
Suspicion arose after the MSC Nicole, which docked at berth number 16, was hastily ordered to offload its cargo. The Posetano docked on July 27 at 10.50pm and left on July 29 at 4.03am. The Nicole, which docked on July 29 at 5.15am, left on July 30 at 8.30am. A third vessel, the Na-Toure, docked at berth number 16 on July 24 at 5.05pm and left on July 27 at 6.48pm - although it is run by a different shipping line, CMA-CGM.
The team completed the verification on Sunday and moved to Nairobi.
Yesterday, it emerged that Coastal police chiefs were unaware of the drug raid. Head of anti narcotics Hamisi Masa arrived at the port the second day after the seizure. Regional police boss Francis Wanjohi said Masa will brief the media later in the day once they were done with the investigation. “This a solely an anti-narcotic operation. We were not involved, but we are only aware of the seizure of the drugs in one of the containers. Other details will be shared with the media later,” he said.
The Port of Mombasa has in the past been used as a transit port for drugs headed to Asia and Europe. "Some of us were chased from the docking yard, the way and speed at which work was done surprised many, but we feared being fired and we obeyed. It was a very huge vessel and was on transit," said a source, who did not reveal its destination.
Ugandan Consulate Tayebwa Katureebe said he would issue a statement in the evening, after a briefing by authorities. Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery said a detailed statement will be issued after detectives have concluded their findings.
Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the destruction of a vessel, Hoegh Transporter, loaded with heroin worth Sh1.3 billion.