Anti-narcotics officers in Nairobi have intercepted and seized methamphetamine drugs worth an estimated Sh21.8 million. The consignments of meth were seized at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and in Juja area.
According to a statement by the National Police Service, the first haul of 1,730 grams valued at Sh13.8 million was concealed in items that had been declared as car pistons at the JKIA airport. It had originated from Tanzania and was destined for the Philippines.
In a related operation, a second consignment weighing 1,020 grams and valued at Sh8 million was traced to Juja and intercepted. This consignment was also heading to the Philippines.
This becomes the latest incident of meth being seized at the JKIA. In November last year, anti-narcotics officers seized meth worth an estimated Sh20 million at the airport. The drugs were intercepted at one of the cargo facilities at the airport.
The crystal meth drugs were concealed in African mosaic bags. They were head out to Mahe in Seychelles from Nairobi. According to reports, detectives who found the drugs were acting on ‘intelligence’ that a cargo heading out the country from the airport had drugs in it. Upon measurement, the drugs weighed about 2.5 kilograms and were confirmed through tests to be Meth.
This was as concerns increased over the exploitation of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by drug traffickers. For instance, in an expose that was shared by local television station KTN, a drug trafficker was captured on camera moving drugs through the JKIA unnoticed. According to the expose, the trafficker successfully avoided having his carry-on luggage that contained cocaine screened with help from an individual who was allegedly working at the airport. The helper was captured on CCTV wearing a yellow reflector vest.
The trafficker then successfully boarded a British Airways flight to London Heathrow. He was arrested upon arrival at Heathrow with the cocaine worth millions of money.
The expose further stated that the individual had previously visited Kenya, raising questions on whether his previous visits were for the purposes of trafficking drugs, and even more alarmingly, from where within the country he was sourcing the drugs from.
Weeks later, a multi-agency team led by the Kenya Navy seized 1,024 kilograms of methamphetamine worth Sh8.2 billion. The drugs were seized off the Kenyan coast, about 630 kilometres east of Mombasa.
READ MORE: How rogue KDF soldiers stole crystal meth worth hundreds of millions
38.7 kilograms of these drugs were later allegedly stolen by rogue KDF officers from the consignment of 1,024 kilograms that were recovered from the vessel. The total consignment was estimated to be worth Sh8.2 billion. This placed the value of the stolen drugs to over Sh330 million.
