- The drugs include heroin, marijuana, diazepam among others.
- In the fight against counterfeit goods, the multi-agency team visited several shops where a search was conducted and counterfeited sportswear was recovered.
A multi-agency team of law enforcers operating under Operation Usalama - Coast region completed a four-day operation that targeted drug dens.
The operation which was supported by other government and non-government agencies was staged in Kengeleni, Magodoroni and Shanzu areas, Kisumu Ndogo, Sea Breeze within Malindi Township and Timboni area in Watamu.
The team, according to police, registered significant success in the war on narcotic drugs in the exercise that was staged between September 12 and 15.
During the operation, several suspects including a juvenile and an army personnel were arrested and narcotic drugs seized.
The drugs include heroin, marijuana, and diazepam among others.
In the fight against counterfeit goods, the multi-agency team visited several shops where a search was conducted and counterfeited sportswear was recovered.
From a house located at Mwembe Tayari, the team recovered 27 pieces of assorted counterfeited sportswear.
Another search was conducted at a shop located at China Mall along Digo Road where 204 pieces of assorted counterfeited sportswear were recovered.
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.
At a bookshop within Mwembe Tayari, seven different series of books were positively identified by the publishers to have been counterfeited and in contravention of copyright rules.
The team also conducted an inspection/search at various CFS and Motor vehicle showrooms, which was led by Interpol where over 100 vehicles were inspected but none was found to have been blacklisted as stolen from within or outside the country.
Operation Usalama is the brainchild of The Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation (EAPCCO), a regional police body whose membership consists of Chiefs of Police in 14 countries and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO).
It is principally responsible for the prevention and combating of Cross-border and Transnational Organised Crimes.
The operation was necessitated 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 organized five simultaneous operations code-named Usalama 1-IX in both regions in 2013 - 2023 in the fight against transnational crimes within the two regions.