How Arrest of a Soldier’s Spouse Dragged KDF Into Alleged Theft of Meth Haul in Mombasa

A routine anti-narcotics sweep in Mombasa has spiralled into a high-stakes investigation that now threatens to stain the Kenya Defence Forces and complicate Kenya’s cooperation with international partners targeting drug cartels along the Indian Ocean route.

What began as a quiet arrest of a woman suspected of dealing crystal meth quickly escalated when detectives realised the suspect was not only married to an active KDF soldier but also connected by marriage to a sitting Member of Parliament. Security sources now say her arrest has exposed suspicions that part of the Sh8.2 billion methamphetamine haul seized at sea in October may have been siphoned off before it reached official custody.

The woman was arrested last week after intelligence teams linked her to the local distribution of crystal meth in Mombasa. Investigators said the packaging of the kilos recovered from her house bore striking similarities to the 1,024-kilogramme consignment seized in a multi-agency operation roughly 630 kilometres offshore in October. Officers also recovered about Sh700,000 in cash believed to be proceeds of the illegal trade.

Once her identity surfaced, Military Police immediately took over the case, transferring her to a KDF facility for interrogation. Multiple military personnel linked to the October interception have also been placed under scrutiny, with some expected to face court martial proceedings if the allegations are confirmed.

The October operation, carried out jointly by the Kenya Navy, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and foreign security agencies including those from the United States, resulted in the arrest of six Iranian nationals aboard a stateless dhow believed to have been used by a regional cartel that moves narcotics between the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.

Senior officers familiar with the probe say investigators are now examining whether a portion of the drugs was siphoned off on the high seas before the dhow was towed to Mombasa. “We understand something fishy happened when the personnel intercepted the haul in the dhow,” a security officer said, adding that rogue soldiers may have concealed part of the shipment before it was handed over to civilian agencies.

On Tuesday, KDF issued a rare public statement acknowledging that some of its personnel were under investigation.

The military said it was aware of allegations that narcotics may have been stolen as the crystal meth was being offloaded from the intercepted vessel. It insisted the declared cache of 1,024 kilogrammes remained intact and under round-the-clock guard by a multi-agency team, but confirmed disciplinary and legal action would follow if any wrongdoing by its officers was proven.

Meanwhile, the six Iranians arrested during the operation—Jasem Darzaen Nia, Nadeem Jadgai, Imran Baloch, Hassan Baloch, Rahim Baksh and Imtiyaz Daryayi—are being held for an additional 21 days on orders of a Shanzu court. Detectives from the Anti-Narcotics Unit are working to trace the origins and ownership of the meth shipment, which was disguised in bags labelled as premium Arabica coffee and found to be 98 per cent pure by the Government Chemist.

The dhow, christened MV Mashallah, was intercepted on October 19 before being escorted to Mombasa Port on October 25. Investigators say the vessel, operating without a flag, fits the pattern used by transnational syndicates that have increasingly chosen the East African coastline as a covert trafficking corridor. Previous seizures—including the 2006 cocaine haul valued at Sh6 billion and the 2014 interception of the MV Amin Darya carrying more than 33,000 litres of liquid heroin—show the scale and frequency of attempts to use Kenyan waters to funnel drugs across borders.

The involvement of a soldier’s spouse, and the possibility that serving KDF personnel may have dipped into the consignment they were meant to secure, has unsettled national security officials. It has also raised concerns that the scandal could strain operational trust between Kenya and foreign agencies that rely on joint maritime missions to pursue powerful narcotics networks.

Investigations are continuing, and more arrests are expected as military and civilian teams piece together how the illegal meth pipeline might have penetrated the country’s security system—and who among those tasked with shutting it down may have instead tried to profit from it.