Three foreigners were on Thursday, October 24, charged with illegally operating a secret laboratory in Kajiado county.
The three, who were in cohorts with a Kenyan lady, also faced charges of being in possession of methylamine, ethanol, phenylacetone, tartaric acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Acetone, and Toluene among others - all of which are used in the manufacture of illegal substances.
Confirming the incident, the Director of Public Prosecutions released a statement saying the quartet, who were charged at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Law Courts, violated section 5B (1)(a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances ACT No.4 of 1994.
According to the DPP, one Nigerian national was also found guilty of being in Kenya illegally.
The court was told that the accused persons carried out their operations on different dates between March 15, 2024, and September 12, 2024, on a piece of land in Ololepo Village within Oloililai Sub-County in Kajiado.
While the suspects pleaded not guilty to all the charges, the prosecution led by Allen Mulama was adamant the suspects should not be released on bond since evidence strongly suggested they were part of a larger international criminal syndicate trafficking hard substances.
The prosecution also discovered that the only Kenyan suspect in the group was a holder of two valid East African community passports. Records showed that she made trips to India - the country of origin for the illegal substances.
If found guilty, the suspects risk getting slapped with a 20-year jail term or a fine of not less than Ksh 20 million or both. The case will be heard again on October 30, 2024.
This was the latest case in which suspects engaged in illegal drug trafficking saw their vices come to an end. Coincidentally, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Thursday also announced the seizure of bhang in two worth KSh 9.4 million in two separate incidents.
The first nabbing took place in Athi River South Sub-County within Machakos County where officers acted from a tip-off to seize 8 gunny bags containing 115 kilograms of cannabis.
In the second dramatic incident, a suspicious vehicle plying the Isiolo-Modogoshe Highway was flagged, but the driver attempted to escape. Officers managed to stall the vehicle but the two suspects fled on foot.
