A sweeping week-long crackdown has dealt a major blow to organized crime networks across Kenya, following a coordinated multi-agency operation led by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) through its National Central Bureau (NCB-Nairobi) and Operations Directorate.
Codenamed “Usalama XI,” the exercise brought together officers from the National Police Service and other enforcement agencies under the joint regional framework of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) and the Southern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (SARPCCO).
Its goal: to dismantle networks behind drug trafficking, wildlife crime, illicit arms trade, human trafficking, and digital piracy.
In Lang’ata, detectives from the Transnational Organized Crimes Unit (TOCU) and the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) arrested Nanji Nabil Taj, 32, after raiding a Royal Park Estate residence. They recovered $31,700 in counterfeit U.S. currency, which was seized as evidence.
At the Coast, drug traffickers were hit hard when officers intercepted a Mercedes-Benz truck (KCB 025T) at Mariakani Police Station.
Inside were 9½ sacks of cannabis sativa weighing 568.85 kilograms, valued at Ksh.17 million. The driver, Shem Horace Obonyo, 38, was arrested, and the cargo was impounded.
In Eldoret, DCI officers and the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) busted a digital piracy syndicate linked to Kelvin Kiplang’at, seizing a WAKA IPTV control panel, 135 flyers, and two mobile phones. Sixty-four illegal subscribers were disconnected.
Meanwhile, two suspects were detained along Mombasa Road with five elephant tusks worth Ksh.7.8 million in an anti-wildlife trafficking sting.
The DCI said the crackdown signals Kenya’s strengthened resolve to combat transnational organized crime through intelligence-driven, regionally coordinated operations.
