Kenyan police seize bhang, heroin at airport heading to Europe from South Sudan

NAIROBI – Kenyan police at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport have seized several kilos of bhang and heroin that they said was on transit to Europe from South Sudan and two other countries including Uganda.

Kenya’s Anti-Narcotics Police Unit said the drugs were concealed as clothes from an international cargo handling agency when they were discovered on Wednesday using their detectives.

Police say the cargo from Juba was headed for Cambodia while that from Uganda was headed for France.

When the personnel opened the cargo they said one had three blouses each with eight large buttons and three skirts each with 17 buttons, and on dismantling them they were found with powder substance which was tested and found to be heroin.

The other one was confirmed to be bhang. No arrest has been made so far, said head of ANU Amis Massa. Cases of narcotics trafficking are common through the airport, ports and roads.

Last year, European Union ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue said the Kenyan port of Mombasa accounted for 30 percent of illegal heroin smuggled into the EU market.

He said they had engaged Kenyan authorities to handle the issue.

“We are cooperating with the Kenyan government through the security agencies. We are working closely with the various agencies to reverse this trend, get intelligence and the police to nab the peddlers,” he explained.

Locally, the most trafficked and abused narcotics include cocaine, heroin and other psychotropic substances. Apart from these drugs, alcohol, miraa, prescription drugs, tobacco, marijuana and inhalants are also widely consumed.

Police say traffickers now use roads as opposed to airports to carry out their business. The most commonly trafficked narcotics from Tanzania and through Uganda is heroin.

Kenya made the second biggest seizure in July 2016 and arrested two suspects who were linked to the 100 kilograms of cocaine valued at Sh598 million disguised as sugar. The case was later dismissed in court.