[PHOTOS] Morphine, Cocaine stashed in buttons seized at JKIA

Morphine and cocaine concealed in kitenge buttons were on Thursday seized at JKIA.

DCI director George Kinoti said a cache of the narcotics concealed in two shipments was intercepted following a tipoff.

"One of the shipments that was destined for Australia from Kenya had been declared as African traditional earrings," he said.

Kinoti said an ordinary person would assume the 168 pairs of earrings to be just that.

"...but the deft police officers sensed there was more than met the eye. After deeper scrutiny, they discovered a yellow powdery substance cleverly concealed within the ornaments," Kinoti said.

The powder was subjected to presumptive tests soon afterwards and was positively identified as morphine.

According to Webmd, morphine belongs to a class of drugs known as opioid analgesics. It works in the brain to change how your body feels and responds to pain.

Kinoti further said a second consignment had been avowed as 12 kitenge dresses and was enroute to Hong Kong.

Anti-Narcotics Unit detectives opened the consignment and recovered the 12 declared dresses and an additional 199 buttons.

"Upon deeper inspection, they were awed to find a white powdered substance shrewdly hidden within the buttons," he said.

The powder was subjected to presumptive tests, which revealed it was yet another illegal narcotic substance, cocaine.

"The seized consignments are being subjected to further investigation," he added.

Drug traffickers have found new ways to transport the substances stashed in clothes.

Last year, heroin stashed in buttons of clothes were confiscated at JKIA enroute from Juba and Entebbe, to Cambodia and France respectively.

An intelligence-led operation saw the confiscation of unestablished amounts of the powdery substance before a search was conducted.

Heroin makes the brain produce feel-good dopamine but after tolerance is acquired a higher dose is needed to function.

  The drug has become cheaper, purer and more easily available. Users often take it as part of a cocktail of other drugs, often at parties.