Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta oversaw an operation on Friday to blow up the ship caught with heroin haul worth over USD11.3 million.
Kenyatta – aboard a Kenya Air Force chopper, and the Kenya Navy in the warship KNS Jasiri – led journalists, security personnel and anti-narcotic officials as the ship and the drugs were blown up in the high seas.
The journalists aboard the Kenya Navy warship captured the destruction of the drugs confiscated last month. Some of the journalists had earlier witnessed the drugs being loaded into the ship that was blown up in the deep sea.
President Kenyatta announced that the illicit drugs would be destroyed to serve as a warning to those bent on ruining the lives of young Kenyans.
The President said the port of Mombasa would no longer be a passage for the importation of illicit drugs.
“We will not allow drug barons to destroy the future of our young people. We will track and deal with them decisively,” Kenyatta said.
Addressing the press before the ship containing the illicit drugs slipped off, Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa said the Government will not relent and has enhanced the sea patrols to secure the future of Kenyan children by keeping them off drugs.
Earlier, the Government Chemist said the impounded drugs had been tested and confirmed to be heroin.
National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) Chairman John Mututho said destruction of the drugs and the ship should serve as the final warning to drug barons.
He said owners of the destroyed drugs will be tracked down and prosecuted.
“We are investigating 50 suspected drug barons and we are sure we will recommend action by the end of the year,” Mututho said.
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