Over the past few months, there has been a growing number of Kenyan women who have been getting arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and other international airports outside the country while trying to smuggle narcotics.
The most commonly smuggled drugs in these cases have involved cocaine and heroine. These rising cases have raised questions on where and, or from who in Kenya these women are getting these drugs from. Now, a report by the Financial Reporting Centre on laundering of narcotic drugs and laundering of proceeds of drug trafficking in Kenya has shed some light.
Apparently, local drug lords have been trafficking drugs and then using an elaborate laundering scheme to clean their dirty money.
In one of the cases highlighted in the report dubbed Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Trends and Typologies Report 2025, one of the local drug lords was busted for drug trafficking and running a laundering scheme. This drug lord was identified anonymously in the report as ‘person X’.
Using the laundering scheme, he moved his proceeds of drug trafficking through the financial systems and eventually invested them in real estate and luxury cars. He did this directly and through his drug mules and proxies.
When an investigative team pounced on him, they discovered more than Sh10 million in cash, three high end vehicles, an apartment and more than 9 parcels of land.
“Within the investigation period, person X transferred a bulk of the properties to associates, close relatives and allies to distance themselves from the proceeds and disrupt the recovery process,” the report by the Financial Reporting Centre stated. “The authorities managed to successfully seize and recover the cash while efforts are underway to recover the property.”
The report noted that within the illegal business of drug trafficking, criminals have been applying different laundering techniques in a bid to conceal their dirty money. These techniques have largely involved the abuse of financial products and investment in different sectors of the economy including real estate and purchase of luxury cars either directly or through use of proxies.
“The bank accounts exploited are mainly characterized by unexplained cash deposits from different sources, which are eventually withdrawn or transferred for purchase of assets,” the report stated.
READ MORE:
- Kenyan Wendy Mbeke Muli nabbed with ingested cocaine pellets at JKIA
- Kenyan woman arrested at India airport with Sh238m liquid cocaine
- 25-year-old Caroline Wanjiku arrested at JKIA smuggling cocaine
- Kenyan Emily Kanini Rhoda arrested smuggling Sh270 million cocaine in India
According to the report, some of the red flags associated with drug trafficking in Kenya have included numerous unexplained cash deposits from different sources; Accumulation of deposits and inward transfers and eventual withdrawal or transfer to related parties; New bank accounts experiencing noticeable and sudden surge in deposit and withdrawal activities over a short period; Account activities not matching the declared source of income.
Client insistence on purchasing property in cash; Client opening a bank account for salary transfer with no salary credits identified in the account; An individual or a group of individuals conducting multiple foreign currency exchange transactions with a foreign exchange service provider.
