Angira Zadock
1 June 2011
Nairobi — A businessman was arrested on Wednesday in connection with drugs seized at the airport.
Mr Rajindra Raju Patel, the proprietor of Solid Vegetables Ltd, was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Unit officers in connection with a consignment impounded on Monday night.
The drugs, in 88 sachets, were allegedly packed at a go-down and taken to the Swissport Cargo Centre, ready for export to the UK aboard a Qatar Airways plane.
By Wednesday evening, Mr Simon Sunguti of the Government Chemist, had not established what type of drug it was. He had taken samples to the laboratory for analysis.
Airport CID boss John Ngisa said the drug was suspected to contain extracts of cocaine and heroin.
“It has not been confirmed what type of drug it is, and it might take a longer process to determine,” said Mr Ngisa.
On Wednesday, Mr Patel was being questioned by officers from the Anti-Narcotics Police Unit. He was being held at the airport police station on Wednesday night.
His lawyer, Mr Cliff Ombeta, asked the police to question the driver to establish where he got the alleged drugs.
“He left the godown at 5pm but was arrested three hours later and it is important to establish where he was,” said Mr Ombeta.
The head of the anti-narcotics unit, Mr Sebastian Ndaru, said the suspect would be arraigned in court when investigations were complete.
He said the drugs weighed 88.6kg and not 196kg as reported earlier. “Though the sachets were labelled 2,000 grammes, the actual weight was one kilogramme,” he said.
The drugs were hidden in 22 cartons containing pepper and were labelled as fresh produce destined for the UK.
Mr Ndaru said a Nigerian detained at the police station had passed five more pellets of cocaine that he had ingested. He is believed to have been trafficking them to Cameroon.
Mr Ikenna Onwughalu was arrested on Sunday at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while on his was to Douala in Cameroon. On the day he was arrested, he removed 182 pellets.
Another man was arrested at Unit 1 check-in counters as he tried to send a parcel containing drugs to Juba.
The drug was not detected at the screening area but Jetlink security officers detected it and handed the sender over to the police. He is to appear in court on Thursday.
A related report said three suspected Kenyan drug dealers were arrested on Wednesday morning in Tanzania.
The three were seized in Dar es Salaam’s Mbezi suburbs with six kilogrammes of a drug whose type is still being investigated.
Police are also said to have seized three vehicles belonging to the suspects.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Original post:
Trader Arrested Over Airport Drug Haul