100 kilos of cocaine seized in Kenya

Nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine has been seized in Kenya's main seaport by US DEA officials.

Nairobi, Kenya - Nearly 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of cocaine have been seized at the country's main seaport by the US’s Drug Enforcement Administration officials and police, Kenyan police officials said Monday.

The cocaine was seized from a container delivered by ship from Brazil, said a senior police official who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

A British national and two Kenyans are being questioned, the official said.

The drugs were seized last week in containers supposedly carrying sugar destined for Uganda.

The seizure was a rare one in Kenya, which the UN and the US say it has become a cocaine distribution hub in recent years. Traffickers from South America are said to take advantage of Nairobi's extensive air links to Europe and Asia.

Traffickers also exploit Kenya's long Indian Ocean coastline and lack of adequate security controls at the port of Mombasa, the State Department's 2016 drug control strategy report said.

Stemming this flow of drugs is a challenge for Kenyan authorities. “Drug trafficking organizations take advantage of corruption within the Kenyan government and business community, and proceeds from drug trafficking contribute to the corruption of Kenyan institutions. High-level prosecutions or large seizures remain infrequent,” the report said.

For more than a decade, Kenya's police have been named annually by the local chapter of the global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International as the most corrupt institution in the country.

AP