Kenyan Woman Caught with 1.4kg Cocaine in India: International Drug Bust
A female passenger from Kenya was apprehended at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on suspicion of trafficking cocaine.
Officials reported that she was caught carrying 1.4 kilograms of cocaine, estimated to be worth around Sh8 million.
In Kenya, authorities state that a kilogram of cocaine is valued at approximately Sh4 million to Sh5 million, but its price can soar to as high as Sh12 million in the global market.
The individual from Kenya flew into Mumbai on a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi on Thursday, December 28, and was detained by officers from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
“The ingenious concealment of the drugs involved two black polythene packets cleverly placed within a hair conditioner bottle and a body wash bottle,” DRI said according to local media.
The individual was detained according to the regulations outlined in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985 and later placed in judicial custody.
The announcement mentioned that an ongoing investigation is in progress. DRI officers, acting based on information received, focused on a particular passenger and found 1,490 grams of a white powdery substance suspected to be cocaine in the woman’s baggage.
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Throughout 2023, several Kenyans were arrested in drug-related cases abroad.
For instance, in June, Indian officials apprehended a Kenyan woman at the New Delhi airport for carrying 2.5 kilograms of cocaine from Addis Ababa. The illicit substance was hidden inside whisky bottles.
On September 24, a car dealer from Kenya was apprehended in Sri Lanka at Bandaranaike International Airport while carrying 4 kilograms of cocaine valued at approximately Sh24 million.
Insiders reported that the confiscation serves as an alert that Kenya has become a significant pathway for drugs likely headed to Europe and Asia.
However, according to the detectives, the recent increase in local narcotics seizures highlights a perilous situation that demands the attention of authorities.
In 2019, Simon Mordue, the former European Union Ambassador to Kenya, stated that around 30 percent of illicit heroin entering the EU market was traced back to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
The majority of the country’s heroin comes from Afghanistan via the Indian Ocean, while cocaine typically comes from South America.
Kenyan security forces discovered the second-largest amount of cocaine in 2016, weighing 100 kilograms and valued at Sh598 million, hidden within a shipment of sugar in Mombasa.
Kenyan Woman Caught with 1.4kg Cocaine in India: International Drug Bust