Detectives on Friday arrested a 26-year-old Kenyan woman who attempted to smuggle cocaine through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) by ingesting drug pellets.
According to a police report, the suspect—whose confidence seemingly outweighed her carry-on luggage—was intercepted by hawk-eyed officers on June 13, 2025, at around 10am, just minutes before boarding an outbound flight. Her uneasy demeanour during a routine screening raised suspicion, prompting further checks.
She was subjected to a thorough search, after which officers suspected she had concealed foreign substances internally. She was immediately placed under medical observation.
The detectives, in coordination with other government units at the airport, embarked on a medical response to make her release the swallowed narcotics.
Later that day, the woman requested to use the washroom, where she excreted two pellets. By the following day, June 14, she had passed six more, bringing the total to eight cocaine-filled pellets.
"The woman, whose confidence was clearly larger than her carry-on luggage, was intercepted by hawk-eyed detectives on June 13, 2025, at around 10 am, just minutes before boarding an outbound flight. Her uneasy demeanour during a routine screening set off alarm bells," the DCI shared in a report.
''Following this, she was subjected to a thorough search. It was soon established that she had concealed foreign substances inside her body cavity, prompting immediate medical observation.''
The recovered pellets contained cocaine weighing approximately 626.65 grams, which, according to the current market value, could cost approximately Ksh4.39 million.
JKIA’s Anti-Narcotics Unit has since launched preparations to arraign her in court on Monday following the completion of investigations.
In a related incident, detectives arrested a United States citizen who ingested several pellets of cocaine in a bid to traffic them from Alabama to Saudi Arabia on February 19 this year.
According to the detectives, the suspected trafficker was nabbed after a tip-off from a doctor at a hospital in Nairobi. Moments after being admitted, the doctor promptly alerted anti-narcotics detectives from DCI Headquarters, who visited the facility to witness an endoscopy process on the suspect.
During the process, three pellets were recovered from the suspect's rectum, which turned out to be cocaine weighing 57.98 grams. The DCI officers took the pellets and documented the incident.
