Six Iranian nationals who were charged with trafficking in methamphetamine estimated to be worth KSh8.2 billion have pleaded guilty before the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa.
The two made the plea on Monday, January 12, following their arraignment in court. The two were arrested in late October last year following the interception of a dhow in the Indian Ocean with a suspected shipment of 1,036.044 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Following their plea, the court ordered that they be remanded to Shimo La Tewa GK Prison until Friday, January 30, when the facts of the case are to likely be read.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the charges were read to the accused after the culmination of a miscellaneous case application, which had been previously been filed seeking custodial orders.
“In any case, all six accused people have already pleaded guilty to the charges,” the DCI added in a statement, declaring that it was a great breakthrough in the fight against transnational drug trafficking.
The vessel was intercepted approximately 630 kilometers east of the coastline of Mombasa by a joint security operation conducted by the DCI, Kenya Navy, Kenya Coast Guard Service, and National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse, commonly known as NACADA. The vessel would later be escorted to the port for further investigations.
DCI Director, Mohamed Amin, explained that they had followed an intelligence brief shared by other partners who had indicated to them that there was a rogue vessel roaming around in the Western Indian Ocean.
After the seizure of the vessel, the investigators managed to get a court order to inspect the vessel’s contents. This resulted in the subsequent recovery of the drugs.
“It may well be too early for me to state that the intended destination was either point A or point B; that is still being investigated,” Amin told at the time of the interview. “Clearly, the intended destination was somewhere in this area. Regarding the source of the ship, the ship was stateless and did not have any flag.”
The security agencies have reiterated their commitment to tearing down drug trafficking cartels while warning that they will not relent in their efforts to prevent the entry of illegal drugs in the region.
“The case is an embodiment of the determination of the country’s security forces to break up cross-border drug networks and save the country from the harmful consequences of drug trafficking,” said DCI Joseph B.K. Onabayi.