Police seize 800kgs of illegal drugs at JKIA
This photo shows the drugs that were confiscated by custom officials at JKIA on May 5, 2018. PHOTO | FRED MUKINDA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The man who claimed the consignment was arrested and four other foreigners who checked it in are being sought.
- A Kenya Revenue Authority official said the medicine is not registered for Kenyan market.
Police at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) are holding a man over the smuggling of 800 kilogrammes of drugs into the country.
The medicines, which officials said are commonly used in reproductive care, were seized at the baggage claim section of the airport on Saturday.
The man who claimed the consignment was arrested and four other foreigners who checked it in are being sought.
Some of the drugs impounded by custom officers at the JKIA, Nairobi, on May 5, 2018. PHOTO | FRED MUKINDA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The consignment was flown into the country from Kigali, Rwanda, via Entebbe in Uganda.
A Rwanda Air flight that carried the consignment and the four passengers landed at JKIA at 4am Saturday.
At check in, the four declared the luggage as "medicines for reproductive health".
They left the airport at 8am without the luggage.
Sacks of drugs seized at JKIA on May 5, 2018. PHOTO | FRED MUKINDA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
ARRESTED
The man in custody arrived an hour later and claimed it, before he was arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
A Kenya Revenue Authority official said the medicine is not registered for Kenyan market.
Furthermore, the official said those who imported it did not have a licence from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board as dictated by the law.
