By CCI Team

The whispering palm and the mangrove trees, swaying in rhythm with the gentle breeze paint a picture of blissful serenity along the virgin beach.

The waves, lapping and taping at the base of the three-deck-fibre vessel crudely docked, complete the picture of a village where residents have no reason to double bolt their doors at night.

The Kenyan and Italian flags flap atop a powerful yacht, which too is docked less than 50 metres from the boat.

The yacht is docked against the backdrop of highly sophisticated equipment, which support a ultra modern space centre, San Marco project. San Marco acts as the eye for Europe, Asia and Africa, watching their airspace and launching satellites for interested countries. The facility is guarded by police who have a police post at the entrance.

A boat docked at the Ngomeni port.

The base is staffed with gallant soldiers who are supposedly always ready to defend their motherland.

But right under the noses of these highly trained and armed security agents from Kenya and Italy, and their long-range surveillance equipment, criminals have established an illegal port where they dock and offload their merchandise freely.

They have managed to effectively turn the sleepy village of Ngomeni into a resort for criminals.

Incidentally, some Kenya Revenue Authority officials now seem to recognise the port. The Immigration Department too has been forced to establish an office at the illegal port, overlooking the site where the boats docks.

When CCI visited the illegal port at Ngomeni recently, it was business as usual for the Kenyan and Somalia smugglers.

Here there are no cranes or forklifts to load and unload ships. This is the work of bare back casual labourers contracted when there is illegal cargo.

Ngomeni village is 20 kilometres from Malindi along Lamu Road and a further 10 kilometres off the highway.

On this Friday afternoon, CCI finds a group of casuals loading a vessel just under the nose of immigration officials.

Ngomeni village in Malindi overlooking the illegal port used by criminals for smuggling.

The vessel is anchored with two ropes tightly tied to crude pegs planted on the beach. The workers are breaking their backs under the watchful eye of their agent, Yusuf Abdi Majid.

"This vessel has been here for the last two days. We do not know what it brought ashore. It is not supposed to be here as there is no port here," Fred Ogeto, a senior immigrations officer in Malindi explains looking helpless.

When CCI fishes for more answers, Majid rises from under the tree where he has been commanding the operation and approaches us.

"I am the agent for the boat. We came two days ago from Mdoa in Somalia. We brought fish here. We have sold it and will go back for more," the agent explains.

He adds that the boat is one of the three owned by his brother, Haroun Omar, who at the time was in Mombasa.

He produces some documents allegedly issued by Kenya Revenue Authority in Malindi to prove that he just docked with seven tonnes of fish.

On its return journey, he says the boat is to carry six tonnes of ice. There is no Government official to ensure that the contents of the white USA branded bags are actually ice. Three years ago his group was allegedly at the centre of a scandal which saw shiploads of black market sugar, drugs and electronic goods smuggled into the country.

A witness recalls how the group would dock ship in the high seas near Ngomeni and then use small boats to bring the goods to the shore.

"They would bring in illegal aliens, sugar drugs and at times illegal weapons. They were well organised and employed as many as 100 labourers," the source recalls.

Immigration officials at the beachfront where boats dock with illegal aliens and goods. Photos: CCI Team /Standard

Majid’s explanations do not wash, even with the Immigration department.

"Since there is no port here, who has allowed you to dock? Where is your captain and your manifest?" Ogeto asks.

The agent explains that the captain, a Mr Suleiman Salim, has gone to Malindi to have a pump repaired. Our investigations established that Ngomeni continues to be a notorious port of entry for smugglers, arms and human traffickers and some terrorists.

It is the same port where eight years ago terrorists sneaked in explosives, which were later used to bomb a hotel in Kikambala, Mombasa on November 28, 2002.

A rocket missile aimed at an Israel aircraft, which had just landed at Moi International Airport, Mombasa, missed the target.

Villagers whisper in fear remembering how one of the suspects, Omar Said Omar sojourned at Ngomeni as he smuggled his arsenal for the Kikambala bombing.

In a worried conspiratorial voice, an elder who pleads for anonymity told CCI: "This man stayed there for three days. He then left for Kismayu where he married a local girl before he relocated."

Although he was acquitted of the bomb attack, Omar was convicted for illegally smuggling two SAM-7 "Sterla" missiles and sentenced to serve nine years.

Residents who did not want to be quoted fearing reprisals said the security situation at the illegal port has not improved.

Our informant pleads: "Please, if you want to see me again do not divulge my names. These are dangerous people. They can come for me any time."

Terrorists are believed to have used the same route to smuggle the materials for the deadly 2000-pound bomb, which was used in the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 killing 219 people.

Despite this, the Government is yet to intensify security at the port.

Regrettably, the local provincial administration, immigration and some security officers agree security surveillance has not improved in Ngomeni.

The Italian Consul stationed at Malindi, Mr Roberto Macri says: "Our equipment has not detected these illegal activities as we concentrate on satellite and meteorological issues."

Area residents say most ships dock near Ngomeni at night. Small boats are then dispatched to fetch the illegal aliens.

"That boat over there can carry as many as 300 people. Once they land, the agent organises transport from Ngomeni to Malindi and Mombasa through buses and lorries," a source confides pointing at a vessel docked on the shores.

"For a long time, Ngomeni has been the nerve centre of illegal activities in this area. A lot of smuggling and human trafficking takes place here," Ogeto explains.

He says this is the reason the Immigration Department has established an office at Ngomeni.

"We have no plans of issuing papers to the night boat travellers. Surely how do you recognise travel documents from Somalia. We will round them up and hand them over to the police," Ogeto explains.

So far only two immigration officers, have been posted to keep vigil over the leaking port.

"We do not have speed boats so we cannot patrol the beach. Even if we sight smugglers, we cannot match their fire power," a security officer told CCI.

Malindi OCPD, Peter Kattam confirms that Ngomeni has been used in smuggling of aliens.

"Since January, we have arrested 28 aliens who sneaked into the country through Ngomeni. They have all been charged and are serving their sentences in Kenyan jails," he says.

He adds out of those nabbed, Somalia with 23 aliens recorded the highest number, followed by Uganda and Seychelles with two each, while Ethiopia had one case.

He laments that they have no speedboats to patrol the ocean.

The area DC Arthur Mugira too is unhappy with the notoriety Ngomeni has gained over the years.

Recently during a baraza in the area, the DC told residents: "Some of you are assisting these aliens to acquire Kenyan papers."

The aliens, the DC warned, are a national security threat.

"We have reliable information that these aliens come at night and some of you assist them. I have instructed chiefs to interrogate all suspected aliens and hand them over to the police," the DC warned.

And as the Government watches helplessly, besides continuing with their unscheduled nocturnal trips, the racketeers have decentralised some of their operations to other centres such as Mayunungu, Takaungu, Kinyaole and Mida.