- Four of them were arrested in Kitengela.
- The other two were arrested in Umoja Innercore, Nairobi.
Image: HANDOUT
Six suspects who were Wednesday charged with trafficking cocaine valued at Sh25.5 million in Nairobi have been remanded.
They appeared before a Jomo Kenyatta International Airport anti-narcotics court and denied the charges.
Four of them were arrested in Kitengela and two in Umoja Innercore, Nairobi.
The suspects included Nancy Wanjiku Munyota, Ali Somoebwana Abubakar alias Abdallah Salum Choba, Kheri Kassim Mohamed and Saad Salum Mnyuss, Michael Adeyemi Adedeji and Selina Ndinda Ndonyo.
Munyota faced a separate charge of trafficking cocaine valued at Sh3 million in the same area.
The prosecution opposed their bail application saying some of the suspects were foreigners and were likely to abscond court sessions.
The case will be mentioned in two weeks' time.
Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin said the arrest is part of an ongoing operation targeting narcotics traffickers in the country.
“We have intensified the war against marauding drug traffickers keen on making quick financial gain while ruining the lives of many. We will get them all,” he said.
During the operation, according to police, Choba was found with a Kenyan identification card suspected to be fraudulently acquired identifying him as Ali Somoebwana Abubakar.
Police are investigating how he got the document.
Other items recovered were packaging materials, weighing scales, documents relating to assets and bank account details of various banks the suspects operate.
The narcotics seized in Umoja had been disguised in African artefacts to prevent detection during transit, police said.
According to police, Michael operates from Kampala and arrived in the country on August 27, through the Busia border.
He told police he is in a community of other Nigerians in Kampala operating church ministries.
According to police investigations, most local drug dealers source their cocaine from Sao Paulo Brazil.
The consignment is shipped using various courier services through Mahe Island Seychelles, South Africa, Zimbabwe then Bujumbura Burundi.
Upon arrival in Burundi, the dealers send the narcotics to regional and global markets including Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, India and the United States of America (USA-New York) via courier services and mules.
Members of the syndicate, operate various bank accounts to settle payments and facilitation which includes ticketing, visa payments, hotel bookings and freight fees.
Most narcotics from Kampala and Ethiopia find their way into the country for onward transmission to Europe through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), officials say.
A major operation is ongoing and is targeting the mules and the drug lords behind the business.