Police nabbed drugs worth Sh9b this year, meth topped seizures

Detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) seized drugs worth Sh9 billion between January and November 2025. [File, Standard]

Detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) seized drugs worth Sh9 billion between January and November 2025.

In the data seen by The Standard,  the major haul was the 1,024 kilogrammes of methamphetamine (meth) valued at Sh8.2 billion.

These were discovered in a vessel in the high seas off the Kenyan coast on October 25, 2025, by a multi-agency team comprised of ANU, Kenya Navy, the National Intelligence Service, among other international partners.

Tests from the government chemist showed that the product was 98 per cent meth.

The drugs were on the MV Mashallah, a vessel that had six Iranians on board, some 630 kilometres off the Kenyan shores in the Indian Ocean.

The six Iranians, Imran Baloch, Hassan Baloch, Nadeem Jadgai, Jasem Darzaen Nia, Imtiyaz Daryayi and Rahim Baksh were arraigned and the case is set to resume in January next year.

A month after the recovery, the Kenya Defence Forces came out to deny that navy officers had been involved in the loss of 24 kilogrammes of the meth valued at Sh124 million.

The denial came after the arrest of a woman who is alleged to be the spouse of a serving navy officer for selling the meth.

Seven navy officers, Duke Nyamwaya, Juma Mwinyifaki, Michael Kariuki, James Ekiru, Elijah Mbogo, Abdulrehman Salad and Abdirahman Abdi were arrested and arraigned in connection with the drugs.

They were recently freed on a Sh500,000 bond.

The meth was the second to be seized in the coastal region after ANU officers acting on intelligence pounced on a house in the tourist destination Diani, Kwale County, on August 4.

Gianardi Guiliano, an Italian and Moses Nanoka, a Kenyan, were arrested from the one-acre compound in Mwambungo village after ANU detectives found a clandestine lab and chemicals they believe were set for the manufacture of meth.

They also found laboratory equipment and packaging materials clearly inscribed with names of known narcotics.

After the arrest, DCI said that the compound showed signs of long-term drug processing, with some sections showing that they may have been used to cultivate cannabis sativa.

According to the data, ANU officers recovered some 25,461 kilogrammes of bhang valued at Sh764 million during the period in review.

In one of the incidents that took place on November 23, the officers arrested six people in Mombasa and seized bhang valued at approximately Sh72 million.

Two of the suspects, Nolden Ogola Misieba and Andrew Kaida, were arrested while driving a truck along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.

From the truck police discovered the bhang stuffed in 50 gunny bags weighing 2,400 kilogrammes.

The detectives also intercepted three more vehicles believed to be part of the distribution chain and arrested Jefferson Kamau, Lawrence Onyango, John Lutomia and Samuel Juma Okoth. “Subsequent investigations have since revealed that the three vehicles were meant to be loaded with the intercepted consignment for distribution across Mombasa and its environs,” said DCI officers.

In another incident on July 12, while acting on a tip-off, police arrested four women, Doris Achieng, 46, Brenda Achieng (20) Rhoda Vonza (47) and David Omondi (26) from a Bamburi house in Mombasa County.

Upon searching it, they found bhang stashed in bags weighing 554.05 kilogrammes valued at Sh16,621,500.

In February 2025, ANU detectives based at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) seized Amphetamines that were hidden in 10 candles in a DHL package.

According to police, the drugs were to use Kenya as a transit point from Bujumbura, Burundi, to Australia.

From the data, ANU detectives recovered cocaine worth Sh24 million.

In one incident on June 13, at JKIA, police nabbed a woman, Wendy Mbeke, who had ingested 28 pellets of cocaine weighing 912.74 grams valued at approximately Sh2.5 million.

In court, the investigating officer, Nichola Ruttoh, said that Mulin was to fly to the United Arab Emirates using an Arabian flight but was arrested while checking in at around 11am.

In May 2025, detectives intercepted and arrested another woman, Caroline Wanjiku, 25, at JKIA as she was about to board an India-bound flight.

She was flagged down by detectives, and upon conducting a search of her luggage, they found two smaller packages with a whitish substance.

The substance was confirmed to be cocaine, weighing 1.3 kilos.

The detectives also seized Ketamine worth Sh16 million, Heroin worth Sh4.7 million, and Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, and molly worth Sh763,440.

A state of security in the country report that was tabled by President William Ruto in parliament during his State of the Nation address on November 20, shows that Kenya remains a transit point for drug trafficking.

“Narco-traffickers exploited ungazetted entry points along Kenya’s borders with Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda to smuggle drugs into the country and to subsequently transfer them to other countries, including the Middle East,” reads the report.

It shows that some 6,062 people were arrested in drug related incidents and of these 6,043 were Kenyans with the number of foreigners arrested being 19.

The report further says that some of the incidents of unrest witnessed in the country could be traced to drug abuse.

Bhang saw the arrest of most suspects, with 5,911 people getting nabbed, cocaine had 35 people arrested, while Heroin had 28 suspects.