Police have arrested two Tanzanian nationals and a Ugandan woman in an anti-narcotics operation in Kwale County, resulting in the recovery of 454 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine valued at approximately Ksh 3.6 billion.
Police have arrested two Tanzanian nationals and a Ugandan woman in an anti-narcotics operation in Kwale County, resulting in the recovery of 454 kilogrammes of suspected methamphetamine valued at approximately Ksh 3.6 billion.
The multi-agency operation, led by the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau (NANB) Coast Region, followed intelligence linking the suspects to a separate seizure of 259 kilogrammes of methamphetamine and cocaine in Tanzania.
The operation was triggered by the arrest of a 45-year-old Tanzanian national identified as Saleh Khamis by Tanzanian authorities on November 5, 2026, over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
The subsequent operation in Kwale led to the arrest of two other Tanzanian nationals and a Ugandan woman, alongside the recovery of the suspected narcotics.
Police are expected to pursue further investigations to establish the source of the drugs.A similar incident occurred two months ago when authorities destroyed more than one tonne of methamphetamine valued at approximately Ksh 8.2 billion in Mombasa, Kenya. The destruction took place on September 24, 2026, at the Bamburi Cement factory in Mombasa.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen oversaw the destruction of the drugs, saying the seizure and destruction demonstrated the scale of the narcotics threat facing Kenya and the importance of intelligence-led, multi-agency cooperation.
Murkomen also said the government had transformed the Anti-Narcotics Investigation Bureau by increasing the number of specialised officers from 200 to 405. The government is also procuring 20 vehicles for the bureau and strengthening its intelligence, surveillance, forensic and financial investigation capabilities.
Between January and August 2026, Murkomen said security agencies arrested 259 suspects and seized or destroyed 2,896,590 litres of illicit alcohol, 27,854 litres of ethanol, 13,879.021 kilogrammes of cannabis, 4.241 kilogrammes of heroin and approximately 4.58 kilogrammes of cocaine.
