A week-long police operation across the country has reaped fake US dollars and narcotics worth more than Ksh21 million, in a nationwide operation that sought to slow down organized crime.
The operation, Usalama XI, was carried out by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) through its National Central Bureau in Nairobi with the coordination of several security and enforcement units.
It was also part of a regional operation under the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) and the Southern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO).
The multi-agency teams, according to the DCI, made a number of arrests and confiscated enormous quantities of counterfeit goods, narcotics and wildlife trophies.
“United in a show of harmony and concerted effort, National Police officers collaborated with different enforcement and state agencies, resulting in massive seizures of narcotics, counterfeit goods, and high-profile arrests,” read part of a DCI statement released on October 10.
In Lang’ata, Nairobi, detectives stormed an apartment on October 8 and discovered fake US cash totaling $31,700 equivalent to Ksh4 million. A man aged 32 was nabbed at the scene and taken in for interrogation to the DCI headquarters.
The raid also extended to the Coast region, where police stopped a lorry traveling from Mombasa to Nairobi and discovered it to be carrying bhang. In a search at Mariakani Police Station, nine and a half sacks of the drug weighing 568 kilograms and valued at about Ksh17 million were confiscated. The 38-year-old driver was arrested and the truck taken as evidence.
Concurrently, detectives effected an anti-poaching arrest of two suspects near Mombasa Road near the Shalom area after they found them in possession of five elephant tusks worth an estimated Ksh7.8 million. The DCI attributed the arrest being part of the move to close wildlife trafficking.
In Eldoret, police officers raided a digital piracy ring suspected of engaging in the sale and installation of pirated home internet and streaming services illegally.
The operation resulted in the confiscation of two mobile phones, 135 ad flyers, and an internet “pirate control panel” employed to link unauthorised subscribers.
Sixty-four illegal connections were disconnected during the crackdown.
The piracy case suspect was handed over to Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) for processing and possible prosecution.
Police admitted the Usalama XI operation had been fruitful and promised to up similar crackdowns as part of continued efforts geared towards defeating transnational crime and protecting Kenya’s economy.
