Police oppose bail for suspect in heroin case

Bilali Ndechumia, who was arrested in Madagascar and deported to Kenya on April 10, 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • They claim Bilali Ndechumia is the owner of a yacht that was allegedly found with the heroin.
  • The accused, allegedly jointly with others, trafficked 2,028 grams of heroin.

Police have opposed the release on bond of a man charged with trafficking heroin valued at Sh6 million.

Police claim the accused lived in Madagascar for almost two years before he was extradited to Kenya.

They claim Bilali Ndechumia was the owner of a yacht christened Baby Iris that was allegedly found with the heroin.

“Upon learning [of] the arrest of his accomplices and realising that his [yacht] had been intercepted and detained the accused took off,” read part of the affidavit by Police Constable George Odhiambo, attached to the Anti-Narcotics Unit.

Mr Odhiambo said the accused is a flight risk and will to attend court if granted bond.

“We invite the court to take judicial notice of the fact that drug trafficking and the effects of drugs have had adverse effects on the Kenyan population,” said Mr Odhiambo.

He added that it is in the public interest that drug traffickers are removed from the society.

He said the accused is facing a serious offence that attracts, upon conviction, a fine of Sh1 million or three times the value of the seized drug.

The accused, allegedly jointly with others, trafficked 2,028 grams of heroin by conveying it in a motor vehicle concealed in the false bottom and top of a black suitcase.

The offence is alleged to have been committed on April 9, 2015 at the Kilifi boatyard in Mnarani, Kilifi County.