(S) INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING RING ENJOYS

S E C R E T NAIROBI 000072

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PRETORIA FOR DEA/WAGNER; THE HAGUE FOR DEA; BOGOTA FOR DEA;
LONDON FOR DEA; JUSTICE FOR OPDAT, JUSTICE FOR ICITAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2031
TAGS: SNAR PREL PINR KCRM PGOV KE
SUBJECT: (S) INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING RING ENJOYS
IMPUNITY IN KENYA

REF: A. 05 NAIROBI 2243

B. 04 NAIROBI 5341

Classified By: POL/Couns Michael J. Fitzpatrick. Reasons:
1.4 (B,C,D)


1. (S) SUMMARY: The absence of convictions in high-profile
cocaine cases and the New Year's Eve murder of the lead
police officer investigating drug trafficking through the
Port of Mombasa (East Africa's regional maritime hub) amply
demonstrate that international narcotics trafficking rings
have made major inroads into Kenya, corrupting, bribing,
intimidating and killing their way into position to operate
with relative impunity. Little progress has been made in
exposing those behind the shipment of, or providing political
protection for, the record one ton-plus shipment of cocaine
seized here in December 2004. The lackluster performance of
legal and law enforcement authorities in the cases, the
increasingly whispered fear that national politicos are
providing protection for the ring, and now the murder of
Officer Hassan Abdillahi, sharply undermine post's confidence
that Kenyan authorities are serious about combating
international narcotics trafficking. And despite continuing
concerns of its possible diversion back onto the streets,
Kenyan authorities are no closer to even deciding how or when
to destroy that cocaine that actually has been seized. Post
recommends it is time Washington turns up the heat. END
SUMMARY.

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BUNGLING THE BUST
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2. (S) The then-largest recorded seizure of cocaine in
Africa occurred in Kenya in December 2004, with simultaneous
seizures of containers -- totaling more than one ton of
cocaine -- in Nairobi and the coastal town of Malindi. This
followed the interception in the Netherlands of a related
consignment of cocaine (of several hundred kilos) believed
shipped from Kenya by seaborne container. Dutch authorities
arrested several persons, including the son of a former
Kenyan Member of Parliament (MP). Kenyan authorities
separately arrested 12 Kenyans and 2 Italians and charged
them with involvement of the various shipments seized by the
Dutch or Kenyan authorities. (NOTE: Initial information
provided to the Kenyan authorities by European partners
indicated exactly where "several tons" of cocaine was to be
found in Kenya. When the Kenyan authorities finally did move
on the information more than one week later, several
implicated had calmly departed the country, and only one ton
was recovered. END NOTE.) In the year since then, there has
been minimal progress in the investigation -- and much cause
for concern.


3. (S) During a December 19 meeting with Emboffs,
XXXXXXXXXXXX expressed a high level of frustration with the
poor handling of the investigation and prosecution by the Kenya Police Service and the Department of Public Prosecutions. Seven
suspects stand accused of trafficking the cocaine seized
December 2004 in both Malindi (837.5 Kg) and Nairobi (304
Kg). Following months of mounting frustration with the
prosecution,s failure to introduce the drugs into court as
evidence (without which there is no case),Chief Magistrate
Aggrey Muchelule had ordered the court to visit the warehouse
where the drugs were stored. (NOTE: The drugs are
technically under the court's jurisdiction, but were turned
over to Police Commission Ali for safeguarding at a
presumably secure, undisclosed location. One of the only
three police officers said to have keys to the storage
facility was murdered this year under highly suspicious
circumstances; several of his immediate family members have
since also been killed. The police balked at moving a ton of
cocaine to the court -- or of having the court come to the
"undisclosed" location. END NOTE.)


4. (C) But the Court finally had its way, and helicopters
ferried the drugs to and from a neutral location for the
Court to inspect. The Court's October visit (with press in
tow),however, did little to allay concerns that the drug
haul may have been tampered with or that the drugs were
finding their way back into the market. (NOTE: The arrests
of a continuing stream of Kenyan Airways employees at

London's Heathrow Airport for smuggling cocaine on flights
from Kenya points ominously at the latter. The most recent
arrest occurred just this week. END NOTE.) Upon viewing the
seizure, defense attorneys alleged discrepancies in the
weight and color of the displayed packets from those
originally seized. Despite U.S., UK and Dutch repeated
offers to assist in the analysis and testing of the seized
goods, and to help trace the network responsible for the
shipment, Kenyan authorities have kept all foreign missions
at arms' length. To date, only a small fraction of the
seizure has been tested -- in private, by the Kenyan Police.
Controversy remains surrounding the manner and timing of
destruction of the drugs; neither the court nor the
government has a plan to confirm that what is still being
warehoused is cocaine (and not flour or some other
substitute),much less a plan for publicly destroying the
seized drugs. The court case is scheduled to resume before
Magistrate Muchelule January 15, 2006.


5. (C) Kenya,s confused and conflicting legal provisions on
the analysis requirements for narcotics seizures also hinder
the investigation. As a result of U.S., UK and Dutch
pressure, the Nairobi branch of the United Nations Office on
Drug and Crime worked with the State Law Office and the
Department of Public Prosecutions to develop a protocol to
the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Regulations on
the seizure, analysis, and disposal to facilitate the
investigation and prosecution of these seizures. Drafted
months ago, the protocol has yet to come into force. The
Attorney General must still draft, and then table an
amendment before Parliament, which must then vote a change in
one of the governing laws before the AG can even issue
regulations to implement the protocol. But Parliament has
prorogued by the President (for unrelated reasons) until at
least March ) too late to assist in the prosecution of at
least one of the cocaine cases.

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INCOMPETENCE? LACK OF WILL? OR WORSE?
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6. (S) In the first of the two cases being pursued in Kenya,
seven suspects were acquitted November 18 of drug trafficking
charges connected to the shipment of drugs originating from
Kenya seized in the Netherlands. The presiding magistrate,
Rose Ougo, sharply criticized the police and the prosecution
for their failure to build a case connecting the Kenyan
defendants with the drugs, or to even establish that the
substance seized was a narcotic. Muchelule privately
complained to Emboffs that Kenyan legal and law enforcement
authorities did not liase with authorities in the Netherlands
to even confirm that what was seized was cocaine. Nor, he
said, do they cooperate in the Dutch investigation of the
case. Ougo was reportedly enraged that evidence she
understood had been collected was not presented in Court.
(COMMENT: Though he did not say so explicitly, we took his
comments to imply that both Muchelule and Ougo were aware of
quiet rumors that Dutch phone records implicating Kenyan
politicians with the traffickers, among other items, had been
stripped out of the prosecutor's case file. END COMMENT.)
Ougo, Muchelule said, had no choice but to dismiss the
charges for lack of evidence. In her decision, the
magistrate issued scathing statements accusing legal and law
enforcement authorities of conducing shoddy investigations.
The handling of the case was so deficient that the magistrate
questioned the seriousness of the Attorney General,s
commitment to combating drug trafficking. (Post is seeking a
copy of Ougo's ruling, which has yet to be published.)


7. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXX decried to Poloff December 1 that the separation of the two December 2004 cocaine cases was a
ruse to prevent successful investigation or prosecution. XXXXXXXXXXXX said the move &buried8 evidence of an
international trafficking ring operating (with official sanction) i
Kenya by denying the authorities the ability to make a legal connection between the cocaine seized in Kenya and the
shipment sized in the Netherlands. (XXXXXXXXXXXX) According
to XXXXXXXXXXXX, those being prosecuted now are mere scapegoats, while the real guilty parties (including Christopher Murungaru, who was Security Minister at the time of the initial seizure, later moved to Transportation (which oversees the ports),and only removed from the cabinet last November) enjoy impunity.

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MURDER OF OFFICER INVESTIGATING DRUG TRAFFICKING
-------------- ---

8. (S) Further undermining confidence in the ability of law
enforcement, Kenya Ports Authority District Criminal
Investigations Officer (DCIO) Hassan Abdillahi was murdered
this past December 31. Criminal Investigations Division
(CID) Chief Joseph Kamau publicly stated that Abdillahi's
murder may have been linked to his investigations into
organized narcotics trafficking and related criminal activity
through the Port of Mombasa. (He reportedly had been
investigating the theft of 39 shipping containers from a
secure port facility. Press reports allege that Interpol had
tipped Abdillahi to the possible presence of another major
cocaine shipment in the identified containers.) Abdillahi was
perceived by a number of Embassy personnel as being deeply
committed to tackling fraud and drug trafficking at the Port
of Mombasa. However, a British diplomat revealed to
PolCouns January 5 that Abdillahi might have had close ties
to the late drug baron Ibrahim Akasha and his family. (NOTE:
The Akasha family long controlled drugs (then mostly
hashish, heroin, cannibis) along through Mombasa to Europe,
with Kenyan police, judges and politicians all bought or
intimidated. Akasha was gunned down in Amsterdam in May 2000.
One of Akasha's sons was gunned down in 2002 in Mombasa. END
NOTE.) Thus, goes this theory, with the Akasha family's
wings clipped and now supplanted by upstarts, a falling out
among thieves over control of the port could have been behind
Abdillahi's aggressive investigations -- and his killing.
Meanwhile, it is undisputed that cocaine consumption among
Kenyan coastal youths has soared in the past several years.


9. (S) A number of suspects have been arrested for
questioning about Abdillahi's death. Among them: four
brothers of (known thug and rich-far-beyond-visible-means)
Juja MP William Kabogo, who is also owner of a port container
transshipment company. (One of those brothers arrested had
been arrested the day before Abdillahi was killed, having
been charged with the theft of the 39 suspect containers.)
Curiously, the Chief of Inspections for CID avowed to Embassy
Legal Attach January 4 that the police have little to no
leads in the case. In a December 16 conversation with
PolCouns, XXXXXXXXXXXX stated baldly that Mombasa CID had uncovered clear evidence of high-level political protection of corruption and drugs
trafficking in the port. His CID sources, he said, were very
nervous about digging further, fearing that it would get them
killed. (XXXXXXXXXXXX.) Mandera Central MP (and Shadow Finance Minister) Billow Kerrow publicly questioned the police,s ability to
properly investigate the killing, alleging that members of
the police themselves may have been behind the shooting, and
called for international assistance to investigate the crime.
Former DPP Murgor has made similar calls. The government
has yet to comment publicly -- other than Police Commissioner
Ali's urging the public not to speculate on any possible
narcotics or corruption as being the motive for Abdillahi's
murder.

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COMMENT
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10. (S) COMMENT: The mishandling of the cocaine seizure
cases and the brazen murder of the DCIO raise strong
suspicions about the integrity of legal and law enforcement
authorities to investigate or prosecute the case. (Indeed,
simply shipping cocaine in multi-ton loads suggests: a) that
this was not a virgin voyage, but one which employed a
well-used route, and b) a route the shippers were comfortable
was protected from interception.) Nor can one be assured
that the seized drugs remain properly safeguarded. As long as
the shipment remains undestroyed, pressure to resell it will
only continue. As noted ref A, there have long been reasons to be concerned that high-ranking Kenyan government and/or
police officials are either protecting those involved or are
themselves involved in actual involvement in drug trafficking
activities. (XXXXXXXXXXXX) Post presented a diplomatic note to the MFA
January 6, renewing the offer of U.S. government assistance
in investigating the December 2004 cocaine seizure case and
offering to assist in the investigation of Abdillahi,s
murder. Post recommends a letter (to be prepared by Post)
from either INL A/S Patterson or DEA Administrator Tandy be
sent to the Kenyan Attorney General, Minister of Internal
Security and Police Commissioner, reiterating U.S. offers of
assistance and pressing the Kenyans to invigorate their
investigation efforts. Post also seeks to amend its previous
submission for the annual INCSR. It is clear that only a
combination of public and private pressure, well coordinated
with our diplomatic allies, will move this government to even
attempt to kick its increasingly dangerous drug habit.
BELLAMY