COCAINE VERIFICATION HITS A GLITCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 001363 SIPDIS SIPDIS LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, PRETORIA FOR DEA/WAGNER E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2026 TAGS: SNAR PREL PINR KCRM PGOV ASEC KE UN SUBJECT: COCAINE VERIFICATION HITS A GLITCH REF: NAIROBI 1113 Classified By: Political Counselor Michael J. Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (SBU) U.S., U.K., and United National Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) international experts, accompanied by GOK chemists, arrived at the General Services Unit (GSU) training school the morning of March 27 to begin the verification process of the one and a quarter ton of cocaine seized in December 2004. Even though Attorney General Amos Wako had yet to authorize the verification process to begin, the Kenyan police, presided over by Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Director Joseph Kamau, delivered what was purported to be the cocaine via helicopter at 10 a.m. to the Embakasi GSU Training School. A furious Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, directed that the process in no way move forward in the absence of authorization from the Attorney General. The international teams waited all day for the much anticipated authorization to be delivered. ¶2. (SBU) At 3 p.m., and still awaiting the authorization, the international teams deemed it was too late in the day, given the waning sunlight hours, to begin the process before the consignment would need to be repacked and loaded onto the helicopter for overnight storage. The international partners collectively "broke camp". When the teams departed, they left the twenty-two foot lockers allegedly filled with the cocaine as they had been all day -- locked, untouched, and formally in the possession of CID Chief Kamau. Only at 4:15 p.m. did they receive notification that the Attorney General had signed the authorization, detailing the procedures that all government institutions are to comply with regarding the verification, analysis, and destruction of the cocaine. The international teams are to return to the Embakasi site Tuesday morning, hopefully to begin the verification process. Despite Kenyan media reports to the contrary, no/no verification was conducted March 27. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: It is clear that the lengthy delay in issuing the authorization resulted from heated battles within the Government of Kenya over exactly how this entire process should unfold. Marathon preparatory meetings have been ongoing for days (and all weekend) among the international partners and GOK institutions to nail down the exact procedures for each phase. The police, having trumped the Attorney General by producing the drugs from an undisclosed location (clearly not the GSU Training School as all have been told) without any non-police participation, have clearly won the first round. END COMMENT. BELLAMY