Kisumu-bound heroin mailed from China seized at Nairobi's JKIA

Customs officers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Wednesday morning intercepted a narcotic substance suspected to be heroin.

The one-kilogramme parcel had been sent from China through an international courier company and was destined for Kisumu.

KRA Customs and Border Control Commissioner Julius Musyoki said the parcel was intercepted at the DHL warehouses and that detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit had taken over the investigations.

ENTRY POINTS

He added that all parcels and letters shipped through any of the local entry points would continue to be subjected to mandatory screening procedures.

The KRA has enhanced its capacity to identify narcotics and other illicit products. It has also intensified screening procedures on all cargo entering or leaving the country.

However, unlike in previous instances, when such seizures were largely on outbound parcels, the interception on Wednesday was of a package consigned for delivery to Kisumu.

Courier companies have been urged to conduct their own internal surveillance to avoid being used as conduits by unscrupulous drug traffickers.

Last week, the KRA also intercepted six kilogrammes of marijuana at JKIA that originated in Senegal and was destined for the United Kingdom.

The package was marked as dried fish for onward delivery from a Senegalese address to the UK via Benin through the post office mail service.