The narcotics loaded in a postal mail package was seized by a team of Kenya Revenue Authority officers during routine screening/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 9 – One kilogram of heroin that was destined for Kisumu from China was earlier on Wednesday seized at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The narcotics loaded in a postal mail package was seized by a team of Kenya Revenue Authority officers during routine screening.
The Authority’s Customs and Border Control Commissioner Julius Musyoki said the heroin was disguised as massage pens.
Musyoki said they have intensified surveillance at all entry points to keep up with the new smuggling methods devised by traffickers.
“We have significantly enhanced our capacity at all entry points to identify narcotics and other illicit products as part of the KRA Customs and Border Control function,” Musyoki said, adding, “our officers have also intensified screening procedures on all cargo entering or leaving the country.”
Following the seizure, the authority has cautioned international courier companies to exercise internal surveillance measures to avoid being used as conduits by unscrupulous drug traffickers.
The need to address drug trafficking through manned and unmanned entry points remains a pertinent issue to most governments in the Eastern African region as traffickers seek new routes across the continent.
A report by the United Nations on Drugs and Crime 2009 states that most countries in the Eastern Africa region are used as transit points to other destinations. This is brought about by weak border controls and insufficient resources to tackle the illegal trade.
The report further indicates that cannabis is the most cultivated, smuggled and consumed drug in the region, followed by heroin and to a much lesser extent cocaine.
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