One-tonne cocaine haul destroyed

Some 1.1 tonnes of cocaine seized from suspected drug traffickers in Kenya 16 months ago were incinerated in Nairobi on Friday amid tight security as government officials, representatives from the United Nations and diplomats witnessed the destruction of what is possibly the largest-ever drug seizure in eastern Africa. Black smoke billowed from the chimneys of two incinerators at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as 984 packets of the narcotics were tossed into the high-temperature fire. The destruction of the cocaine would take between seven and 10 hours, according to Davy Koech, the director of KEMRI. "We are happy that the consignment has been destroyed," said Carsten Hyttel, the regional representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "The cocaine would have done a lot of damage if it had reached the international market," he added. The incineration of the narcotics followed several days of verification by forensic experts from Great Britain, Kenya, the United States and the UN. Hyttel said he was satisfied with the inspection process, and that a team of experts would prepare a final evaluation. The drugs were smuggled into Kenya from South America. Previously, Asian drug traffickers had used Kenya as a transit point for narcotics, Hyttel said. He added that it would be “very serious” if drugs from South America started to be trafficked through Kenya. Asked why it took so long to get rid of the drugs, the commissioner of the Kenyan police, Maj Gen Hussein Ali Mohammed, explained that the consignment was being used as evidence in proceedings at the chief magistrate’s court. Six suspects, including an Italian couple, are on trial in Nairobi for possessing the consignment of cocaine. The cocaine was confiscated in two raids on 14 December 2004. During the first raid, in Nairobi, the drugs were disguised as roofing material and packed in two shipping containers ready for transport to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The second raid took place in the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi.