Kenyan court detains 7 soldiers over alleged theft of $63M meth shipment

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - A court in Mombasa along Kenya’s coast ordered seven members of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) Thursday to be detained for 10 days as investigators probe allegations that they stole a portion of a 1-ton methamphetamine shipment worth an estimated $63 million, the largest drug haul ever seized in Kenya.

The suspects – Duke Nyamwaya, Michael Kariuki, Abdulrehman Salad, Elijah Mbogo Gacog’u, Abdirahman Abdi Kuno, James Ekiru and Juma Mwinyifaki – were arrested in a joint operation involving detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

They were arraigned before Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda, who granted investigators more time to complete inquiries.

Inside the packed courtroom, the seven soldiers stood silently with their heads lowered, most wearing masks, dressed in plain T-shirts and track pants rather than uniform, while their lawyers sat in front of them surrounded by stacks of case files.

Prosecutors told the court they needed additional days to examine communications, trace movements of the officers and record statements from multiple security agencies involved in the October operation.

The accusations stem from an Oct. 25 maritime interdiction in which a dhow was intercepted off Kenya’s coast and found carrying 1,024 kilograms of crystal meth.

The narcotics were offloaded under armed escort during a multi-agency operation led jointly by naval units, anti-narcotics officers and other security formations.

Authorities later claimed that a portion of the shipment had gone missing under unclear circumstances, prompting an internal KDF investigation and now a criminal inquiry.

The case is unfolding alongside separate proceedings involving six Iranian nationals arrested during the same interdiction who prosecutors say trafficked the “769 packages containing a crystalline substance, identified as methamphetamine,” valued at roughly $63 million.

Kenyan authorities have intensified patrols along the Indian Ocean after a series of major narcotics interceptions linked to trafficking networks operating between the Gulf region and East Africa.

The court is expected to give further directions on the soldiers’ case after investigators file an updated brief at the end of the 10-day detention period.