MOMBASA, Kenya, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police on Friday arrested three Tanzanian nationals and seized heroin worth over 900,000 U.S. dollars at the common border in Lunga Lunga in the coastal town of Kwale.
The drugs weighing 30 kilograms were seized by a team of security officers on a public bus on transit to Mombasa.
Head of Anti-Narcotics Unit Hamisi Massa said the suspects are among wanted drug traffickers nabbed during the covert operation.
"Acting on intelligence information we arrested the three and seized the drugs concealed in three suitcases. This is major breakthrough in the war on narcotic," said Massa.
He said the three are being interrogated before they are arraigned in court to face drug trafficking charges on Monday.
Massa said reports indicate that the three were hired by a wanted Tanzania drug baron Swale Ahmed to smuggle the drugs in the country for distribution targeting mainly foreigners.
Ahmed was arrested last year where drugs worth 100,000 dollars were seized by security team in Mombasa.
Intelligence reports indicate that Ahmed runs an empire that smuggle hard drugs, mainly heroin, and has evaded several police dragnets by bribing security agents.
The Friday crackdown was carried out by detectives who were behind the arrest and extradition of four suspected drug traffickers to the United States.
