How private villas, luxury yachts and fishing sites fuel the drugs menace

Drugs addicts inject themselves at their hide out in Mombasa County recently.PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD

Unpoliced fish landing sites, creeks and the many private villas by the shores of the Indian Ocean have made Kilifi County a haven of drug dealers, security officials say.

Officials say barons smuggle the drugs to the shores of Kilifi using yachts and other sea going vessels to sneak in drugs through fish landing sites.

Earlier this year, police intercepted a luxury yacht captained by a Seychellois in a private yard in Kilifi that had six kilogrammes of heroin and 1,230 rolls of bhang. Kilifi County Police Commander Douglas Kanja said seven people, including the Seychellois, were arrested in connection to the incident.

"Intelligence reports indicate that drug barons ferry in their merchandise through the ocean and sneak them to market centres using fish landing sites spread along the coast line," said Mr Kanja. The police boss said some of the drugs recently nabbed in Kilifi are believed to have been on transit to Lamu where there is a ready market among Western tourists.

Kilifi County Commissioner Joseph Keter said the luxurous yacht,  MV Baby Iris, was later towed to Mombasa under tight police guard and destroyed in a controlled explosion at sea. Kanja told The Standard on Sunday they have arrested 33 suspected drug peddlers and recovered 1,405 rolls of bhang and 43 sachets of heroin in recent raids.

The police have also intensified patrols on beaches to arrest traffickers.

Kilifi County Secretary Owen Baya had accused the police of doing little to fight drug peddling and abuse. Mr Baya said drug barons use fish landing sites in the county to off load their drugs and sneak them to markets along the coastal strip and further upcountry.

Officials from the Ministry of Health in Kilifi have linked intravenous drug abuse to the high infection rates of HIV/AIDS in the county.

With the support of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the government has launched a medical assisted therapy (MAT) programme for drug addicts who use needles and syringes to inject themselves.