A team of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers today morning seized a narcotics package earlier sent from China to a Kisumu address through an international courier company.
The officers, attached to the KRA Customs and Border Control division at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), seized the one kilogramme package containing narcotic substance suspected to be heroine at the DHL JKIA Warehouses.
The KRA sniffer dog that helped discover the parcel at the DHL JKIA Warehouse.
Speaking when he confirmed the seizure, KRA Customs and Border Control Commissioner Julius Musyoki said the package containing the white substance had been concealed in a parcel earlier declared as massage pens. Security agencies drawn from the Anti-Narcotics Unit have taken over investigations. The identities of the sender and recipients have not been released.
All parcels and letters shipping through any of the local entry points, he said, will continue to undergo mandatory screening procedures. Unlike in previous instances where such seizures have largely been on outbound (export) parcels, today’s interception was inbound.
“At all the ports of entry, we have significantly enhanced our capacity to identify narcotics and other illicit products as part of the KRA Customs and Border Control function,” Mr Musyoki said. “Our officers have also intensified screening procedures on all cargo entering or leaving the country.”
Following the seizure, the authority has cautioned international courier companies to exercise internal surveillance measures to avoid being used as conduits by unscrupulous drug traffickers.
