Police seize cocaine worth Sh100 million, arrest suspect

A woman was on Friday found in possession of cocaine worth Sh100 million.

Police seized the illegal drug and arrested the woman in Utange, Mombasa County.

"Sleuths are yet to establish whether the drug which was carefully packaged in 35 sachets and concealed in suitcases was meant for local consumption or on transit to a different destination," DCI said in a statement.

Police said they are hunting for the accomplices of the 29-year-old suspect.

Last month, four people including a Mombasa-based footballer were seized on the Likoni Ferry for possessing illegal drug.

The narcotics, which weighed two kilogrammes with a street value of Sh6.1 million according to police, was found to be heroin after an analysis by the government chemist.

A police report says the narcotics were found hidden in the engine compartment of a vehicle.

An earlier police report showed that 52 people were apprehended in Mombasa between April 2018 and April 2019. They were found with heroin worth millions of shillings.

The proximity of the port has been blamed for many cases of drug trafficking in Mombasa.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), international airports in Nairobi and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia are key entry points for illicit drugs into the East African region.

This, UNODC says, is primarily due to the frequent commercial flights from Asia and the Middle East.

It notes that the seaports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa are also key entry points favoured by the drug traffickers.