The music celebs in drug trafficking

By Dann Okoth

Flashy cars, trendy clothes, wads of cash and a celebrity image to boot -this is the picture the so-called music celebrities present. But behind the façade is a big rot for some.

According to a new dossier, certain entertainment celebs in Kenya are deeply involved in the murky underworld of drugs trade.

On the surface, the celebs would want to portray a holier than though image — leading their fanatical followers to believe they earn an honest living.

But a thorough scrutiny would soon reveal that their wealth and earnings from music do not quite match. So where does the money come from?

According to a new document marked only as “SECRET/REL KENYA” and believed to have originated from American intelligence sources, one particular local music icon is deeply entrenched in drug trafficking.

For starters, a close relative of the musician has been known to be associated with drug kingpins for a long time.

But according to the document, a function organised in 2008 by the artiste in Nairobi and attended by a notorious drug lord known only as Paulo fundamentally links him to the drug cartels.

All associates of Paulo and several suspected drug traffickers attended the function in Nairobi, with each paying an entrance fee of Sh3,000.

And he is not the only one involved, as several other artistes have been known to be linked either directly or indirectly with drug barons.

Apparently, the drug lords capitalise on the popularity of the musicians and their close contact with the youth to distribute their merchandise.

Allure of easy money

“Like everyone else who gets hooked to drugs or are lured into drug trafficking, the musician may have had a brief brush with cartels in his daily routine,” explains a highly placed entertainment source in Nairobi who cannot be named due to the gravity of the matter.

“But then the allure of easy money and the urge to maintain a certain lifestyle may have led him to sink deeper into the trade,” he adds.

But if enlisting the services of celebrities in their trade is unnerving, the fact that the cartels can buy the police and the Judiciary is even more shocking.

At the Coast where the drugs problem is more pronounced, the cartels have compromised a number of police officers attached to the Kenya Police Anti-Narcotics Unit and members of the Judiciary. They receive regular payments from narcotics traffickers operating in or around Mombasa, according to the dossier.

No support

“This greatly compromises police operations with investigators receiving no support from their superiors when attempting to conduct searches of premises or individuals connected to leading traffickers,” says a police officer in Malindi, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He cites one occasion in 2008 when police in Mombasa were reportedly tipped of a suspicious shipment of an apparently empty container. A police inspection of the container revealed it had a false bottom, which was filled with unspecified goods.

“However, the owner paid bribes to the police and investigation into the real content of the container were dropped,” he says.

Close connection to the law enforcement agencies and the political elite is not for nothing, as a daring move by Paulo in September 2008 demonstrates.

Paulo attempted to have seven suspicious containers cleared from the Kilindini port but hit a dead end. He then contacted a senior CID officer in Nairobi, who agreed to help alter cargo documentation so that clearance procedures would proceed without difficulties.

Documentation was obtained for a container shipment of shoes from China, which was switched with the suspicious cargo. A Member of Parliament from Western Kenya offered to waive import duty for Paulo’s shipment. Nearly Sh2 million in bribes was paid in the process.

But the traffickers are also known to lead double lives with most keeping a string of mistresses whose premises are often transformed into storage facilities for drugs on transit.

In 2009, according to the document, Paulo carried on affairs with two unidentified women living in Thika and Westlands in Nairobi. Paulo’s mistress in Westlands served as a custodian for his narcotics. Drugs were shipped from a politician’s warehouse on Mombasa Road to Paulo’s Westlands home.

Business disguise

Multiple drivers were used to obfuscate the origin and destination of the shipment. Indeed Paulo and his associates use several business ventures to disguise their trafficking activities.

According to Citizens Against Child and Drug Abuse (Cicada), efforts to rein in the real culprits in trafficking at the coast have been frustrated by weak laws and the ingenuity of the barons.

“The law stipulates that one can be charged with trafficking of drugs but it is difficult to capture the drug kingpins with drugs haul leaving the police to arrest small time peddlers on the streets,” says Cicada director Farouk Saad.

“There ought to be a mechanism whereby the real culprits are made to face the law. We also need to sort the problem of political elite and high end businessmen being involved,” he concludes.