- The four-day operation which has since been completed was conducted by a multi-agency team of law enforcers operating under Operation Usalama - Coast region.
- The operation targeted drug dens in Kengeleni, Magodoroni and Shanzu areas, Kisumu ndogo, Sea breeze within Malindi township and Timboni area in Watamu.
Image: DCI
A Multi-agency team has seized several types of hard drugs in an operation at the Coast.
According to a statement by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, drugs which include heroin, marijuana, and Diazepam among others were seized in the crackdown.
Diazepam is commonly used to treat anxiety disorders and alcohol detoxification, acute recurrent seizures, severe muscle spasms, and spasticity associated with neurologic disorders.
The four-day operation which has since been completed was conducted by a multi-agency team of law enforcers supported by other government and non-government agencies and operating under Operation Usalama - Coast region.
The operation targeted drug dens in Kengeleni, Magodoroni and Shanzu areas, Kisumu ndogo, Sea breeze within Malindi township and Timboni area in Watamu.
"The team registered significant success in the war on narcotic drugs," DCI said.
The DCI said several suspects including a juvenile and an army officer were arrested during the operation.
During the operation, the team visited several shops in the fight against counterfeit goods, where a search was conducted and suspected counterfeited sportswear recovered.
The DCI said a total of 231 pieces of assorted sportswear suspected to be counterfeit were recovered in the shops visited.
In another operation targeting individuals dealing in counterfeited books, the multi-agency team in the company of representatives from various publishing houses visited and inspected several bookshops.
During the operation, seven different series of books were positively identified by the publishers to have been counterfeited and in contravention of copyright rules, DCI said.
"The team also conducted inspection/search at various CFS and Motor vehicle showrooms which was led by the Interpol where over 100 vehicles were inspected but none was found to have been blacklisted as stolen from within or outside the country," DCI said.
Operation Usalama is the brainchild of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation (EAPCCO), a regional police body whose membership consists of Chiefs of Police of the 14 countries and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) which is principally responsible for the prevention and combating of Cross-border and Transnational Organised Crimes.
The operation was neccessitated as a result of the recognition by the Chiefs of police of both regions of the threats posed by transnational crimes including motor vehicle theft, narcotic drugs, Trafficking in persons(TIP) /Smuggling of Migrants (SOM), Proliferation of small arms and light weapons, Terrorism and fugitive tracking, Smuggling of minerals, counterfeit and illicit goods and the need to co-operate in the fight against cross- border and transnational crimes that afflict the two regions.
The two regional bodies have in the past successfully organised five simultaneous operations code named USALAMA I-IX in both regions in 2013 - 2023 in the fight against transnational crimes within the two regions.