US Detectives Nab Iranian Drug Kingpin in Nairobi Sting
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has described how a two-year undercover investigation in Nairobi led to the capture of an Iranian drug distributor.
The Attorney’s office detailed in a statement dated Thursday how the dealer intended to smuggle tonnes of heroin into the United States between 2019 and 2021.
According to US officials, the drug dealer arranged meetings in Nairobi with potential US business associates.
Unbeknownst to him, however, the ostensible executives were a police informant and a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) undercover officer.
During the unspecified Nairobi meetings, the drug dealer described how he would smuggle drugs into the United States without police or border agents observing.
During the meetings, the drug dealer reportedly provided photographic evidence of his illicit business to convince the businessmen to do business with him.
“In December 2019, he caused a sample of approximately two kilograms of heroin to be delivered in Mozambique with the understanding that those drugs would be transported to the United States for testing and sale. Following this sample shipment, he planned to supply larger quantities of heroin for importation to and distribution within the United States.
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“In meetings in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2021, he agreed to distribute ton quantities of heroin for importation to New York and to provide the heroin via maritime routes, using a fishing company to conceal his narcotics activities, to make millions in profits,” read the statement in part.
In light of the incriminating evidence, the DEA and the National Police Service (NPS) apprehended the 40-year-old in Nairobi on October 8, 2021, before his extradition to the United States on October 9, 2021.
The drug dealer was brought before an American court on October 12, 2021, and a jury deemed him guilty in May 2023.
The 40-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday, October 24, for conspiring to import opium into the United States.
“He was in the business of peddling poison. His drug trafficking operations had already brought large-scale quantities of deadly narcotics around the world for at least a decade,” US Attorney Damian Williams stated.
“When he sought to expand his operation to the United States, our law enforcement allies, in partnership with the career prosecutors of this Office, swiftly put an end to his life-endangering trade.”
US Detectives Nab Iranian Drug Kingpin in Nairobi Sting