A Nigerian national and one other suspect were arrested in Kenya after detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit, in collaboration with the Transnational Organised Crime Unit, conducted an intelligence-led operation targeting a suspected narcotics trafficking network.
In a statement sighted by PUNCH Online on Wednesday by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Kenya, the agency said, “Detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit, in collaboration with officers from the Transnational Organised Crime Unit, yesterday conducted an intelligence-led operation targeting a suspected narcotics trafficking network.”
The statement added that the operation was based on credible intelligence that suspects were planning a narcotics exchange in Syokimau, Machakos County.
“However, upon arrival, it was established that the planned meeting had been aborted,” the statement said, adding that “based on real-time information from covert sources, the operation was redirected to Ruaka, Kiambu County.”
During a search of a house in Mbuti Apartment, Ruaka, authorities recovered “several exhibits including pellets and packages of substances suspected to be narcotic drugs, digital weighing scales, mobile phones, foreign passports, and cash in both Kenyan and Nigerian currencies.”
The arrested suspects were identified as “Okeke Ikechukwu, a Nigerian national, and Alex Opondo, a Kenyan national.”
They were “escorted to Ruaraka and Pangani Police Stations for processing,” and all recovered exhibits have been secured for forensic analysis, the statement said.
The police confirmed that the suspects “are expected to be arraigned in court today as investigations continue to trace additional suspects and dismantle the wider trafficking network.”
