Kenyan detectives have opened an investigation into the origin of cocaine weighing 97 kilograms worth more than Sh1.4 billion that was seized at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
They also want to establish how the haul in two boxes managed to pass through checks at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The officials handling the case said they will talk to customs and Kenya Airports Authority staff who were on duty when the cargo passed before being intercepted at Bole.
The airport officials held a meeting on Wednesday and Thursday to review the passage of the cargo and establish the possible loophole that led to the tragedy.
This has put officials at the airport on the spot over their safety to ensure such narcotics don’t pass.
Sources said the seizure is a warning that Kenya is now a major transit route for the narcotics probably destined for Europe.
It is believed the narcotics were packaged at a house in Embakasi area as books and later moved in a taxi to the airport.
Police believe they were destined for Europe. A team was searching for the house where a female trafficker found with the narcotics stayed or originated.
“We believe she is a mule and the real lords are in Nairobi or elsewhere,” said a detective aware of the probe.
The officials said they were waiting for more information from Ethiopia on what the suspect is saying.
But the detectives say the latest trend of seizures of narcotics locally points to a dangerous scenario that needs attention from authorities.
A female passenger was arrested after she arrived with the luggage on Wednesday containing the narcotics. Officials said preliminary tests had shown the drugs were worth 773 million birrs (US$14.6million).
The passenger who departed from JKIA and arrived in Addis Ababa was arrested by the Customs Commission Airport Branch, as she tried to smuggle 97.48 kilograms of cocaine within two suitcases.
Local media said the commission confirmed that the suspect was arrested trying to pass two bags weighing 48.62 and 48.86 kilograms each, through the low-risk level (Green Line), where transit passengers and passengers carrying duty-free and non-taxable goods exit.
She tried to hide the items in her luggage by wrapping them in aluminium foil, as if they were books, to avoid x-ray probation, but further inspection confirmed that the luggage was packed with cocaine.
“If the drug escaped through the inspection checkpoint and delivered to terrorists, it would cause a huge social and economic crisis and potentially threatens the well-being of citizens,” said the Customs Commission.
Kenyan officials said this is the biggest recovery yet in as many months to happen.
This means the trafficking lords are making a comeback after a long time.
In 2019, the then European Union Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue said the Kenyan port of Mombasa accounted for 30 per cent of illegal heroin smuggled into the EU market.
Most of the heroine in the country originates from Afghanistan through the Indian Ocean while cocaine originates from South America.
Kenyan security agencies seized the second-biggest haul of cocaine weighing 100 kilos and valued at Sh598 million in 2016 in Mombasa which was disguised as sugar.
The case was however later dismissed in court.
Source: The Star
