The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has detailed how an Iran-based drug dealer was cornered in an over two-year undercover investigation in Nairobi.
In a statement dated Thursday, the Attorney's office detailed how the dealer planned to sneak in tonnes of heroin into the US between 2019 to 2021.
According to the US officials, the drug dealer set up meetings with potential business partners from the US in Nairobi.
However, unknown to him, the purported businessmen were a police informant and an undercover officer attached to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
During the Nairobi meetings, whose exact dates were not revealed, the drug dealer detailed how he would sneak in the drugs to the US without police and border officers noticing.
The drug dealer is also reported to have provided photographic proof of his illegal business during the meetings in a move aimed at convincing the businessmen to strike a deal with him.
"In December 2019, he caused a sample of approximately two kilograms of heroin to be delivered in Mozambique with the understanding that those drugs would be transported to the United States for testing and sale. Following this sample shipment, he planned to supply larger quantities of heroin for importation to and distribution within the United States.
"In meetings in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2021, he agreed to distribute ton quantities of heroin for importation to New York and to provide the heroin via maritime routes, using a fishing company to conceal his narcotics activities, in order to make millions in profits," read the statement in part.
Following the evidence that incriminated him, the DEA in conjunction with officers from the National Police Service (NPS) arrested the 40-year-old in Nairobi before being extradited to the US on October 9, 2021.
The drug dealer was presented before a US court on October 12, 2021, and was found guilty by a jury in May 2023.
Consequently, on Wednesday, October 24, the 40-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to import heroin into the United States.
"He was in the business of peddling poison. His drug trafficking operations had already brought large-scale quantities of deadly narcotics around the world for at least a decade," US Attorney Damian Williams stated.
"When he sought to expand his operation to the United States, our law enforcement allies, in partnership with the career prosecutors of this Office, swiftly put an end to his life-endangering trade.”
