Police discover Sh1b heroin in seized ship

Kenya Navy officers guard the MV Bushehr Amin Darya where 341.7 kg of heroine worth more than a billion shillings were found after draining the ship's diesel chambers. The ship was arrested by the Kenyan Navy patrol ship along the Lamu waters two weeks ago and escorted to the Mombasa port where she is being held by the Kenya Navy officers. [Photo: Gideon Maundu]

Anti-narcotics police officers recovered 341.7kg of heroin in 250 bags on a stateless ship they have been searching at Mombasa port since July 3.

Authorities estimate that the record seizure is worth Sh1.1 billion. There are reports that a second ship could have fled when the MV Bushehr Amin Darya, which bore the drugs, was seized by Kenya Navy personnell off Lamu Coast on July 2. 

Police recovered the drugs in the ship’s fuel reservoir after draining more than 1,800 litres of diesel. Khamis Massa, officer-in-charge of the Anti-Narcotics Police Unit in Mombasa, said they also found traces of heroin dissolved in water after draining more than 2,860 litres of the liquid from the ship.

Massa said that preliminary tests showed that the brown substance which had mixed with oil was heroin.

“After a vigorous search on the vessel that was seized two weeks ago, we have recovered 341.7kg of heroin with a street value of 1.08 billion,” said Massa.

Last week anti-narcotics police recovered 974g of heroin on MV Bushehr Amin Darya prompting them to widen search for drugs in all compartments of the ship. Police said the said sailors on the ship appeared to have discarded the drugs in the oil and water reservoirs to conceal evidence after the vessel was spotted by Kenya Navy offloading in the high sea.

Massa told The Standard that discarding drugs in water or oil “is one of the ways traffickers use to conceal drugs.” He said tests on water and diesel on the ship were positive for the drug, adding that detectives intend to extract it from the fluids. More samples were taken to the Government Laboratory in Nairobi for further testing and analysis, said Massa.

The heroin was taken to the regional police headquarters in Mombasa under tight security by the Kenya Navy and officers from the paramilitary General Service Unit. Security has also been beefed up in and around the ship, with armed military personnel manning the vessel as police continue to comb it.

The nine sailors found aboard MV Bushehr Amin Darya were present as police displayed the brown substance and took it away. The suspects, six Pakistani nationals, two Indians and an Iranian, are already facing charges of possession and trafficking in narcotics before a Mombasa court after they were arrested with the 974g of heroin worth Sh2,922,000 last week.

They were denied bond and are being held at the Kilindini Port Police Station. A tenth suspect died mysteriously on July 7. He was the only sailor who spoke English.

The suspects are Yousuf Yaqoob, Yaqoob, Saleem Muhamed, Bahati Abdul Chafour, Baksh Moula, Prabhakere Prwveen, Pak Abdolghaffar, a Vikea and Mohamed Saleh. Police plan to press more charges on the suspects following yesterday’s discovery.

The drugs are believed to have come from Asia. Police told the court last week that they needed more time to investigate the origin of the heroin, and that they would get in touch with United Arab Emirates officials to ascertain if the drugs were en route to or from the country. Sources indicate the ship initially had 6,248kg of heroin, most of which were discarded in the sea.

The sailors had initially claimed the cargo was cement. On July 7, Mombasa County Deputy Police Commander Sevelino Kubai said that the cargo originated from Yemen.

Although several reports have referred to the ship as MV ‘B’Bushehr Amin Darya, maritime sources indicate that its real name is Amin Darya and the vessel IMO 8630784 was built in Iran in 1987 as the Kissho Maru.

At some point it was flagged for Sierra Leone and was owned and managed by a Dubai-based ship operator. Before its capture early this month, the vessel is said to have sailed from Pakistan and was connected to another Iranian ship company.