Kenyan police have seized 454 kilogrammes of suspected methamphetamine valued at approximately Ksh3.6 billion in Kwale County, arresting three foreign nationals in a multi-agency operation targeting an alleged international drug trafficking network.
The National Police Service announced the seizure on Sunday, 8 November 2026, saying the drugs were recovered from two locations in Msambweni Sub-County, in Kwale County on Kenya’s southern coast beside the Tanzanian border. The three suspects — two Tanzanian nationals and a Ugandan woman — are in police custody as investigations continue, according to the police statement carried by People Daily and Capital FM.
A Tanzanian arrest led police to the stash
The operation followed intelligence that led to the arrest of a key person of interest in Tanzania on 5 November 2026. Tanzanian authorities arrested a 45-year-old Tanzanian national, Basleman Saleh Khamis, over the alleged trafficking of 259 kilogrammes of suspected methamphetamine and cocaine, according to The Eastleigh Voice and Capital FM. He was handed over to Kenyan officers at the Lunga Lunga–Horohoro border crossing.
Questioning led the team first to Shirazi village in Kingwede, where a second suspect was found, and then to a house in Ganja la Simba village, Kinondo Location, about 10 kilometres north-east of Msambweni Police Station, where officers recovered the 454-kilogramme consignment. A third suspect, 54-year-old Tanzanian national Hamad Seif Said, was arrested at the premises, according to The Eastleigh Voice. Two motor vehicles and a motorcycle were also seized as exhibits, Tukio reported — although Tukio puts the total number arrested at four, against three in the police statement and most other reports.
The recovered drugs and vehicles have been secured as exhibits, and the scene was documented by crime scene investigators from Kwale before the suspects and exhibits were transferred to the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau Coast regional headquarters in Mombasa for further investigation. Laboratory testing will confirm the substance, as police describe the drugs as suspected methamphetamine for now.
A busy trafficking corridor
The operation was led by the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau Coast Region and involved Kenyan and Tanzanian security agencies, working under directives from Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja for decisive action against narcotics, illicit alcohol and other harmful substances through a multi-agency approach, the police said.
Detectives are now seeking to establish the source of the drugs, their intended destination and the extent of the suspected trafficking network operating across the Kenya–Tanzania border. The seizure comes about two months after security agencies destroyed 1,024 kilogrammes of methamphetamine estimated to be worth Ksh8.2 billion at the Bamburi Cement Factory in Mombasa on 24 September 2026, following the interception of a vessel in the Indian Ocean. The Kwale haul underlines how heavily traffickers are using Kenya’s southern coast — and how closely Kenyan and Tanzanian agencies are now working to intercept them.
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