Eight Kenyans were among 12 suspected drug barons arrested in Mombasa during a joint security operation on Thursday night.
Items seized during the operation included two pistols and 25 9mm bullets and two vehicles - a grey Toyota Ractis (KCG 021P) and a white Toyota Fielder (KBZ 152f).
Others were 11,220 Euros, $4,500, Sh952,935 in notes and coins, seven 3kg packets of a substance believed to be heroin, 136 sachets also believed to be of heroin, fake $36,100 and fake Sh516,000 notes.
Regional coordinator Phillip Tuimir said the value of the drugs seized was about Sh10 million.
/ELKANA JACOB
Tuimir said one of the suspects is the proprietor of Salon Touch and Spa, located off Digo Road.
"She also bids for tenders in the county governments of Mombasa and Kwale using her company Halsa Solutions," he said in a statement.
He added that the suspect recently won a tender for placing 20 guards at the port and may have intended to use them to smuggle drugs through the port.
Wanted suspect
Stephen Bosire, who is said to operate from Diani, was also arrested.
He allegedly supplies large amounts of narcotics from Seychelles and Tanzania.
On February 17, Bosire's accomplice Musa Kibiringe was arrested after he presented himself to the DCI.
/ELKANA JACOB
Mauritius national Rogers Alberty, who was arrested at his home in Likoni, is said to masquerade as a musician.
Alberty is believed to have been recruiting Kenyans to transport drugs to Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius.
Tuimir said he had been working closely with another suspect named Juma Makayamba who sources drugs and also recruits Kenyans.
Italians Leone Fulvio, Mario Mele and Stefano Poli had been on Interpol's red alert notice. Mele owns Buddhas Mario's and Mario's Caffe, located in the Nakumatt building in Malindi.
Tuimir said the three
will be deported for allegedly operating a durg trafficking syndicate in Kenya.
/ELKANA JACOB
The police boss
warned suspects who fled that that they will be arrested.
"The war on drug trafficking will remain unrelenting. We will bring you to book regardless of nationality or tribe," he said.
The arrests came days after Anti-narcotics detectives nabbed five most wanted drug barons in Mombasa amid a government operation to eliminate them.
Swaleh Yusuf was apprehended alongside his wife Asmah Abdallah and accomplices Rashid Athman, Athman Salim and Farida Omar.
Yusuf is said to be Bosire's close ally.
Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa said the five were arrested at an apartment in Bamburi.
The crackdown was carried out by detectives who were behind the arrest and extradition of four suspected drug traffickers to the US.
Baktash (40) and Ibrahim Akasha (28) and foreigners Vijay Goswami (Indian) and Hussein Shabakash (Pakistani) were flown to New York on January 31.
They were arrested in Mombasa for conspiracy to smuggle heroin and methamphetamine into the United States.
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