Police at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport intercepted two consignments containing suspected narcotic drugs during a multi-agency verification exercise.
The narcotics were found to be methamphetamine valued at Sh21 million.
According to the police, the operation was conducted on April 27, 2026, at the DHL cargo shed, involving officers from the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) and other stakeholders.
The first shipment, originating from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and destined for the Philippines, had been declared as car piston samples.
Upon inspection, officers discovered a whitish crystalline substance concealed within the package.
Preliminary tests confirmed the substance to be methamphetamine, a psychotropic drug, weighing approximately 1,730 grams with an estimated street value of Sh13.84 million.
In a second interception, a shipment from Juja Sub-County in Kiambu County, also destined for the Philippines and declared as handbags, was found to contain concealed compartments.
Upon opening the three packages, officers discovered a clear crystalline substance hidden in false compartments.
The substance similarly tested positive for methamphetamine, weighing about 1,020 grams with a street value of Sh8.16 million.
Authorities have seized both consignments, and further investigations are underway.
The police are trying to get those who sent the consignment. The airport personnel have been keen on cargo and seized several drugs sent to various destinations.
Last week, the team seized 700 grams of cocaine valued at Sh2.8 million destined for Saudi Arabia.
The consignment originated Busia and was destined for Jeddah and was in four storybooks.
The seizure of the methamphetamine at the airport raises more questions on the source.
Last year, security teams intercepted a vessel in the Indian Ocean carrying methamphetamine worth over Sh8.2 billion and arrested six Iranian nationals on board. The boat was tracked some 630 kilometres east of Mombasa before being escorted to the port, where the seized substance tested positive for narcotics. Officials discovered 769 packages of crystalline substance that weighed 124,253 kilograms of what came out to be methamphetamine.
The street value of the consignment is estimated to be Sh8.2 billion, equivalent to USD 63 million.
In 2019, the then European Union Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue said the Kenyan port of Mombasa accounted for 30 per cent of illegal heroin smuggled into the EU market. Most of the heroin in the country originates from Afghanistan through the Indian Ocean while cocaine originates from South America. Kenyan security agencies seized the second-biggest haul of cocaine weighing 100 kilos and valued at Sh598 million in 2016 in Mombasa which was disguised as sugar. The case was however later dismissed in court.
