Ann Koome
In a major blow to cross-border narcotics cartels, Kenyan and Tanzanian security agencies have dismantled a high-level drug syndicate, arresting three international suspects and seizing a massive haul of narcotics valued at KSh 3.6 billion.
The joint multi-agency operation, executed in Kwale County, led to the arrest of two Tanzanian nationals, Saleh Khamis and Hammad Safe, alongside a Ugandan woman identified as Nakabugo Zuraya. Intelligence reports indicate the network was using the coastal transit corridor to move high-grade illicit substances across East African borders.
This crackdown comes on the heels of a separate, historic maritime operation where regional authorities intercepted 1,036 kilograms of methamphetamine valued at KSh 8.2 billion from a vessel in the Indian Ocean. The multi-billion-shilling haul was subsequently destroyed by government officials as a demonstration of the region’s zero-tolerance policy.
The operations highlight the expanded capabilities of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which recently upgraded its Anti-Narcotics Unit into the fully-fledged National Anti-Narcotics Bureau (NANIB). Over the last year, NANIB has arrested more than 1,600 suspects by leveraging real-time intelligence sharing between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to choke off maritime and land-based smuggling routes.
Local authorities have confirmed that the three suspects remain in custody, awaiting formal charges in court as investigations expand to identify local collaborators and financial backers of the cartel.
