Gang murders anti-narcotics officer attached to JKIA in cold blood

A police officer attached to the Anti-Narcotics Unit at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was shot dead by gunmen in cold blood as he drove home in Nairobi.

Police Constable Johnstone Kikuyu of Kenya Airports Police Unit’s Anti-Narcotics Unit and based at JKIA was driving home when two gunmen riding on a motorbike hit him at close range killing him on the spot.

The officer was driving to his Huruma house at about 9 p.m. along Juja Road on Saturday when a motorbike hit his car.

According to witnesses and police, Kikuyu stopped and stepped out to check the extent of the damage.

And as he assessed the car, the two men who were riding on the motorbike confronted him and shot him in the chest twice before they jumped back onto the motorbike and sped off.

Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome said nothing was stolen from the officer.

“He had stopped to check the damage when the men who had hit his car shot him at close range in the chest, killing him instantly,” said Koome.

The police boss said nothing was stolen from the deceased officer. By the time a response team arrived at the scene of the incident, the gunmen, who seemed to have been trailing him had escaped.

Koome said a manhunt for the men is ongoing and they are yet to know the motive of the shooting incident.

His colleagues at the airport said they suspect the killers were drug dealers who were not happy with his work.

Police at the airport have in the past months made arrests and seizures of drugs that are on transit.

The latest was two weeks ago when police intercepted a parcel disguised as books that contained 280 grammes of heroin destined for Canada.

Cases of drug trafficking through JKIA have been on the rise with police making several arrests and seizures.

Anti-narcotics police officers say most of the drugs being consumed in Nairobi originate from Tanzania through the Namanga border.

The traffickers had also been avoiding airports for roads, which are poorly manned to traffic the drugs.

Most of the narcotics that are seized are cocaine and heroin.

Statistics show police at the airport seized drugs valued more than Sh50 million last year alone. Most of those arrested were passengers who were on transit.