Stoic silence by police over mysterious killing of Kandereni

Police yesterday remained tight lipped over the mysterious killing of notorious Mombasa drug baron Swaleh Yussuf Ahmed alias Kandereni whose body was discovered in a thicket in Msumarini in Kilifi county on Sunday, exactly nine days after he was picked from his house by individuals who allegedly identified themselves as police officers’.

For the second day, authorities could not comment on the murder amidst growing speculation that the drug lord said to have inherited the drug empire at the Kenyan Coast from the once dominant Akasha family could have been felled by security agents in the ongoing war on drugs and illicit liquor.

Preliminary intelligence reports on Monday suggested that Kandereni might have fallen victim to either rivalry or a deal gone sour between him and Pakistani drug barons.

According to the reports, Kandereni has been on the radar of the Pakistani drug lords and having realized that he was being watched, he decided to remain indoors and “was never walking freely around Mombasa.”

But the narrative differed with accounts by the deceased’s family members who maintain their kin was executed by police as he has been a constant target by the government.

Accounts gathered from the family by his lawyer Jared Magolo indicate that on Friday of March 8, 2023, Kandereni was picked from his home by people who claimed to be police officers.