CJ Koome designates four courts to hear narcotics cases

Chief Justice Martha Koome when presiding over the swearing in of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners at Supreme Court on July 11, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

Chief Justice Martha Koome has gazetted four magistrates’ courts as specialised courts to handle narcotics cases.

In a gazette notice, Koome designated the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kahawa, Busia and Mombasa magistrates’ courts to hear and determine such cases. The decision took effect on January 15, 2026.

The move is part of efforts to strengthen Kenya’s response to the growing threat posed by drugs and related crimes, and to fast-track the prosecution of suspects.

The designation follows President William Ruto’s New Year address, in which he announced the expansion of the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Ruto said the administration’s vision is to set the ANU apart from other DCI units, modelling it on the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

The anti-narcotics unit will be expanded by 700 officers, up from the current 200, and equipped with modern surveillance, intelligence-gathering, forensic and financial investigation tools to dismantle local and international trafficking networks and their financiers.

“The unit will operate as a permanent multi-agency formation, working closely with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), the National Intelligence Service, border management agencies, county governments, and international partners,” said Ruto.

He described drug trafficking as being at crisis levels in Kenya, requiring decisive national action, and said the Kenya Kwanza administration would treat alcohol and drug abuse as a national development and security emergency.

Ruto said the Asset Recovery Agency would be engaged from the point of seizure, with all assets linked to drug trafficking including cash, vehicles, land, buildings and businesses, treated as proceeds of crime, frozen, forfeited to the State and redirected to rehabilitation, prevention and treatment programmes.

The President recently held a meeting at State House with Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and senior security officials, including Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, DCI Director Mohamed Amin, and representatives from NACADA and the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

The meeting focused on development of a policy as the government steps up its fight against drugs which also saw Ruto direct the finalisation of a relevant legal framework with 10 days for the coordination of the multiagency team.

Kanja said the additional 700 officers earmarked for the ANU had already been identified, with resources allocated for their training.

Nacada, working with the 47 county governments, is also set to establish rehabilitation centres in all counties.

Data from the ANU shows that between January and November 2025, officers seized narcotics worth about Sh9 billion. The largest haul was 1,024 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, valued at Sh8.2 billion, intercepted aboard a vessel about 630 kilometres off Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast.

Six Iranian nationals found on board the vessel recently pleaded guilty to trafficking the drugs and are awaiting sentencing by a Mombasa court.