A luxury yacht found ferrying Sh22 Million worth of heroin and blown up by the Kenya Navy at the Indian Ocean, belonged to a Kenyan.
The heroin-laden yacht, Baby Iris, was allegedly bought from Kilifi Boatyard Creek by a Kenyan identified as Bilal Ndechunia in 2014.
Baby Iris was however seized a year later in April 2015, at a yard in Kilifi carrying 7.6 kilogrammes of heroin hidden in a tank.
The vessel was allegedly on transit to Swaziland before the anti-narcotics officers in Kilifi pounced on it and arrested five people including the vessel’s pilot - a British tycoon, Clement Serge,
The Kenyan government ordered the yacht's destruction through the assistant director of public prosecution Alexander Muteti after no one went forward to claim its ownership.
In a controlled explosion carried out 20 nautical miles deep in the sea and witnessed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery, Baby Iris was rigged with explosives and blown up.
Nkaissery had warned that authorities will continue in the fight against drug traffickers and ruthlessly deal with their networks in the region.
Before its seizure, Baby Iris reportedly registered in Singapore, ferried affluent expatriate tourists between the Kenyan ports, Tanzania, Madagascar and Seychelles.
The five, including four Kenyans; Ahmed Said Bakar, Mohamed Bakari Mohamed, Sharifu Mzee Mohamed and Ahmed Hussein Salim were arraigned before a Mombasa Court and charged with drug trafficking.
