US joins Kenya in probe of Sh8.2 billion drug haul

Some 1,024 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, a synthetic drug, seized from the dhow MV Ighol in the Indian Ocean, 630 kilometres East of Mombasa, on October 25, 2025. [Jotham Mghendi, Standard] The State will apply for 20 days to detain six crew members of the dhow MV Ighol who were seized 630 kilometres off the Kenyan coast with narcotics valued at Sh8.2 billion. Sources confirmed that the suspects, all Iranian nationals, will be arraigned in Mombasa but not charged immediately as detectives continue piecing together evidence against them. The six, currently held at the Port Police Station, were not interrogated initially because they could not communicate in English or Swahili. "This is a transnational crime that takes time to investigate. We will apply for 20 days to allow investigators to complete their work," said a source close to the investigation. It also emerged that officers from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), based in Bahrain, are involved in the probe. "After we have presented the case, we will apply to destroy the vessel. However, we do not want to repeat the mistake of July 4, 2014," the source told The Standard. On July 4, 2014, Kenya bombed and destroyed the drug-laden MV Busheher Amin Darya (Al Noor) off the coast of Mombasa, an act later cited by the court in acquitting its Iranian crew. Yousuf Yaqoob, Yaqoob Ibrahim, Saleem Muhammad, Bhatti Abdul Ghafoor, Bakhsh Moula, Prabhakara Nair Praveen and Pak Abdolghafar were freed after 11 years in Kenyan prisons. The judge said the arrests and investigations were deeply flawed, as no search warrants were produced before boarding the foreign ship, and the suspects were denied qualified interpreters fluent in Farsi/Persian. However, the interception of MV Ighol off the Kenyan coast, allegedly carrying 1,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, has once again turned the spotlight on the dark underbelly of the Indian Ocean. Maritime experts say the dhow's operation points to a vast, invisible network of transnational crime that thrives on deception, evasion, and the disabling of maritime tracking systems. Andrew Mwangura, a policy analyst specialising in maritime governance and blue economy development, said the incident is a stark reminder of how criminal networks evade international surveillance. "In the case of MV Ighol, the manipulation of tracking systems likely allowed the dhow to travel undetected across busy shipping lanes until its eventual interception," he said. "Such conduct undermines international maritime safety protocols and exposes the high seas to illicit activities - from drug trafficking and human smuggling to weapons transfer and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing." A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), titled "Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia", revealed that crystal meth from Southeast Asia is increasingly finding its way into South Asia and Africa. Detectives in Mombasa believe the narcotics originated from the so-called Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia and were destined for African ports along the western Indian Ocean, where they would be repackaged before onward shipment to Europe and North America.

US joins Kenya in probe of Sh8.2 billion drug haul

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