Cocaine valued at Sh360million seized in Mombasa
Cocaine worth Sh360 million disguised as sugar has been seized at the Mombasa port. Sources said the drugs were found by detectives concealed in sugar cargo containers on Thursday.
“Four containers have been seized and one of them has been confirmed to have cocaine. We found 90kg of cocaine. We are examining the other containers,” a detective who did not want to be named said.
The containers, which are being held at the Port Police Station, were seized at berth number 16. According to clearance documents seen by the Nation, the four containers of brown sugar were from Brazil and were in transit to Uganda.
The shipper of the 520 bags of sugar was identified as Nuva Trading Limited of Brazil and the consignee is Mshale Commodities Limited in Kampala.
“The consignment was offloaded from the MSC Posetano at around 4am on Thursday. We are currently interrogating the owner of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MCS),” said the detective.
He added: “We know who the responsible agent is and we have launched investigations. We cannot tell you who he is now as we fear he might flee.”
DRUG HAUL
“We suspect the other three containers could be having more cocaine, we are continuing with the operation and once we finish, we will be able to give you more details,” said an officer leading the team of detectives.
Contacted, a number of security bosses at the Coast said they did not want to comment as the operation was still underway.
The drug haul comes a week after security officers in Mombasa unmasked cartels of tax evaders within the port.
Investigations by a multi-agency security team established that the individuals tamper with the Kenya Revenue Authority system to conceal goods passing through the facility.
Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa said the syndicate operates in the terminal area of the port.
“This is a sophisticated cartel where individuals bring in expensive goods but declare them as small cargo. They have tampered with the system such that when details of a container are entered it reads as error. This is not a layman’s job but is being perpetrated by individuals within the port facility,” he said.