An Indian and Pakistani nationals are among seven suspects who have been arrested by police in what authorities have described as a major breakthrough in the fight against drug trafficking.
Police also seized cocaine valued at Sh96.3 million and 1.2 tonnes of ketamine valued at Sh25 million from the suspects.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohamed Amin said the arrests and recovery were a major breakthrough in the war on drug trafficking and consumption.
He said the 24kg cocaine had been packaged as avocados when the cargo was intercepted along Wangari Maathai road in Nairobi on June 17. It was headed for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to be flown out of the country as an avocado cargo.
The police from the Anti Narcotics Unit had been tipped off about the issue and intercepted a four-wheel drive car with two occupants along Wangari Maathai road last week.
A search was conducted on the vehicle which led to recovery of 69 cartons, with 23 cartons containing compressed packages of whitish powdery substances that police suspected to be narcotic drugs.
This prompted the officers to proceed to the suspects’ residence located at Ngara estate within Nairobi.
A search was conducted there, which led to a recovery of 46 drums stashed with whitish powdery substances packed in clear polythene bags.
Some 55 other packages in clear polythene bags containing similar powdery substances suspected to be narcotic drugs were also recovered, police said.
A further search led to a recovery of 133 sacks each weighing 25 kilograms marked sodium bicarbonate.
They were all taken to the DCI Forensic Laboratory in accordance with The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act No. 4 of 1994 for analysis where it was confirmed they were cocaine and ketamine.
“The exercise was presided over by a government analyst from the Government Chemist Department as per the law,” Amin told the Star.
He identified those nabbed as Muhammed Salem Mohamed Hussein, a Pakistan national, Khan Mohamed Ashraf Changu (Indian), and Kenyans Wesley Silvanus Adwenya, Moses Liyai Imbwanga, Paul Kivuli Sote, Railings Innocent Ogondi and Latif Mohamed Dawood.
Police declared the house where the narcotics were seized a crime scene. The detectives are investigating the source of the narcotics.
This, according to police, indicates the drugs had arrived in Nairobi for repackaging before they were exported.
In 2019, the then European Union Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue said the Kenyan port of Mombasa accounted for 30 per cent of illegal heroin smuggled into the EU market.
Most of the heroin in the country originates from Afghanistan through the Indian Ocean while cocaine originates from South America.
Kenyan security agencies seized the second-biggest haul of cocaine weighing 100 kilos and valued at Sh598 million in 2016 in Mombasa, which was disguised as sugar. The case was however later dismissed in court.
The seizure of the narcotics came days after a Kenyan woman who had originated from Nairobi was arrested in India for smuggling in cocaine valued at about ShS14 million that was concealed in whiskey bottles.
The woman was arrested on Tuesday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, a customs official told local media.
The suspect was intercepted after her arrival from Kenya via Addis Ababa on Monday, officials said.
Customs officials said the 2.5 kilograms of cocaine was concealed in three whiskey bottles and were recovered from a duty-free shop branded bag, carried by her.
A kilo of cocaine fetches about Sh6 million in the black market and can vary depending on the place.
During interrogation, the woman revealed that the bag she was carrying was handed over to her in Nairobi and she was to hand it over to another person in Delhi.
The bottles, bearing the Black Label stickers, appear to show the cocaine in liquid, brownish form before the Customs authorities condensed it.
“The two bottles were handed over to her at Nairobi airport. She was supposed to hand them over to a person in Delhi,” an official told local media.
The Kenyan national has since been arraigned in court and is currently being held in custody.
Five days prior, the same Delhi Customs tweeted that a Kenyan woman had been arrested ferrying a similar drug in a similar way—concealed in two Black Label bottles.
The woman also arrived in India via Addis Ababa."On the basis of profiling, AirCustoms@IGIA has seized 2 whiskey bottles having dissolved Cocaine from a Kenyan pax arrived from Addis Ababa," they tweeted."Approx value around 13 Cr, exact value will be ascertained after extraction under Court supervision. The pax has been arrested under NDPS Act."
In February, a Kenya Airways passenger was arrested in India for trying to smuggle heroin. The female passenger was arrested at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said.
The passenger arrived in India from Harare via Nairobi on board a Kenya Airways flight, police were quoted by local media.
The DRI said the suspect said the drugs were handed over to her in Harare and the same were to be delivered to two persons in Mumbai. Kenyan officials are investigating the source of the narcotics.
