Pubdate: Fri, 07 Jan 2005
Source: East African Standard, The (Kenya)
Copyright: 2005 The East African Standard
Contact:  http://www.eastandard.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1743
Author: Cyrus Ombati

POLICE QUIZ KPA OFFICIALS ON COCAINE

Police were last evening seeking statements from top managers of the
Kenya Ports Authority in connection with the Sh6.3 billion cocaine
haul.

The team flew back to Mombasa as more details of how the haul arrived
and was cleared emerged.

Police said they needed to interrogate top officers at the port to get
more information on how the consignment was cleared.

Sources close to the ongoing investigations revealed that some of the
arrested port officials had implicated some top officials who the team
went back to question.

CID boss Joseph Kamau said yesterday the investigations were
proceeding well and promised to pursue the case to the end.

It was at the KPA's Kilindini Harbour that the containers with the
drugs arrived in February before they were moved to the Pepe Inland
Container Depot in Athi River.

"If necessary we may have some top officials at the port arrested. Let
us hear what they have to tell us over this," added the source.

Investigations show that KPA officials attached to the Kenya Revenue
Authority's Customs department were involved in clearing of the
consignment.

Anti-Narcotics officials attached to the Port and Pepe were also
involved in the clearance of the containers but "at later stages".

The detectives have alleged that they are nowadays not allowed to
inspect cargo at the port. KPA has trained officers who are involved
in the receiving and clearing of the containers at the port as is the
case at airports.

In the case of the cocaine haul, the detectives are on the spot over
their decision not to use sniffer dogs in verifying the containers'
contents.

According to the shipping documents, no dog was used in checking the
contents as required.

The officials have powers and the mandate to open any container
arriving at or leaving the port and countercheck the contents.
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MAP posted-by: Derek