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Five suspects, including three Nigerian nationals and two Kenyans, will be detained for 10 days as police in Nairobi investigate alleged drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

The suspects were arrested on May 29 by officers attached to the anti-drug abuse agency NACADA in an operation that included a search of their apartment in Kileleshwa that resulted in the seizure of suspected narcotics.

The Nigerians were identified as Salako Oluwafeni Samuel, Adeleye Olushola Stephen and Akinshanya Olutayo Keshinko. Police named the Kenyans as Eve Amondi Ochieng and Maureen Cherono Kogo.

Investigators want to establish how the foreigners entered Kenya. The three are suspected of being involved in narcotics trafficking, while Ochieng is alleged to be their main accomplice.

Kogo is a tenant of house number 401 at Gatundu Heights on Gatundu Road in Kileleshwa but does not reside there, Police Constable Boniface Mutisya, the lead investigator in the case, told Milimani Principal Magistrate Gilbert Shikwe.

Airbnb facility

“She usually uses the house as an Airbnb facility and had allowed it to be used by the three foreigners. We suspect she is working together with them,” Mutisya said.

Police had not prepared a report about the suspected narcotics as they had not been tested, the officer said. Police had also not verified the real names of the foreigners and their nationalities and whether they are in Kenya legally, he added

The five are suspected of working in a drug trafficking syndicate with connections in Kenya and other countries and their accomplices have not been arrested.

Mutisya also told the magistrate that the places of abode of Kogo and the three foreigners were unknown and it would be difficult to keep track of them if they were released.

The suspects’ lawyer opposed prosecutors’ bid to detain them. “The suspects’ passports had been confiscated by investigators, hence they can’t leave Kenya’s jurisdiction,” the lawyer said.

He told the court that bond is a constitutional right for everyone, whether they are citizens or foreigners.

Prosecutor Judy Koech opposed releasing the suspects, arguing that the two Kenyans had not produced any documents to investigators to prove who they are and had not disclosed their places of abode.

The magistrate allowed the police to continue detaining the suspects, saying their alleged offences were serious.