A Kenyan national is among several foreigners who have been interdicted in the United States after being linked with a sensational conspiracy to supply weapons to a Mexican cartel.
An indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Virginia revealed that the Kenyan was part of a group which included individuals from Eastern Europe and East Africa.
According to reports, the group was accused of conspiring to deliver weapons, including rocket launchers, AK-47 rifles and anti-aircraft systems, to a criminal organisation dubbed Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). The US has designated this organisation as a foreign terrorist group.
The group is believed to have forged official export documents to conceal the cartel as the true recipient of the firearms.
U.S. prosecutors further revealed that a test shipment of 50 assault rifles was sent from Eastern Europe using fake documents which claimed the weapons were meant for a legitimate buyer.
Court documents state that despite the initial shipment, the operation was found to be much larger, with plans in place from the cartel to deliver more sophisticated equipment, including surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft drones. All this equipment has an estimated value of USD 58 million, which is approximately Ksh7.5 billion.
The alleged traffickers reportedly agreed to keep supplying forged documents to avoid being detected.
Several of the suspects have already been nabbed in multiple countries, including Ghana, Spain and Morocco. The suspects are either undergoing or have completed extradition proceedings in the United States, while one individual remains at large.
Notably, the CJNG cartel has been linked with unlawful operations in East Africa in the past. As recently as 2024, three foreigners who were in cohorts with a Kenyan lady face charges after they were found to be 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.
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.
In a separate incident, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested an Italian national in connection with running a drug lab.
The 37-year-old was arrested alongside a Kenyan after days of secret surveillance in Mwabungo village in Ukunda.
Reportedly, detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit and the Kenya police carried out a raid at a one-acre gated property in a secluded area, discovering the property.
