The fight against crime in the country, received a major boost after a donation of four vehicles from the United States, through the US Africa Command.
The vehicles were handed over by Joseph Kellams, a top official from the US embassy who was representing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Country Attaché, in a ceremony held at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters.
Kellams lauded the ongoing cooperation between the United States and Kenya’s foremost investigative agency in the fight against transnational organized crimes.
He said the vehicles would specifically complement DCI’s mobility efforts in the fight against drug trafficking.
DCI Deputy Director Ireri Kamwende acknowledged the immense support that the Directorate had continued to receive courtesy of the US embassy in Nairobi, adding that the donation would go far in boosting the Directorate’s effectiveness in responding to contemporary security challenges in the country.
The US official was accompanied by other high-ranking officers from Homeland security including, Messrs Bryan McPherson and Kris Line among others.
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Drug trafficking and consumption has been a major issue of concern in the country and region.
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 heroine 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.
Heroin is one of the most trafficked and consumed narcotics at the Coast and the country at large.
Other most trafficked and abused narcotics include cocaine and other psychotropic substances.
Apart from these narcotics, alcohol, miraa, prescription drugs, tobacco, marijuana and inhalants are also widely consumed.
Police say traffickers now use roads as opposed to airports to carry out their business.
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