Kenyan police have seized 454 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine valued at about KSh 3.6 billion — yaani 360 crore Kenyan shillings — in Kwale County on the country's southern coast, and arrested three foreign nationals, in a multi-agency operation targeting what police called an international drug trafficking network, the National Police Service (NPS) said in a statement on Sunday, November 8. The drugs were recovered in Msambweni Sub-County, and the suspects and exhibits were secured as investigations continued.

Source: Capital FM, Nov 8 2026 — Police seize 454kg of suspected methamphetamine worth Sh3.6bn in Kwale, arrest three foreign nationals (two Tanzanians and a Ugandan woman); operation followed the Nov 5 arrest in Tanzania of Saleh Khamis, 45

The operation grew out of an arrest across the border. Tanzanian authorities arrested a 45-year-old Tanzanian national, Basleman Saleh Khamis, in Tanzania on November 5 over the alleged trafficking of 259 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine and cocaine, according to the police report carried by The Eastleigh Voice. Khamis was handed over to Kenyan officers at the Lungalunga-Horohoro border crossing, and the suspects he led officers to took the team onward into Kwale.

Source: The Eastleigh Voice, Nov 8 2026 — 454kg recovered from a house in Ganja la Simba village, Kinondo, Msambweni; third suspect Hamad Seif Said, 54, arrested at the premises; exhibits transferred to the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau Coast HQ in Mombasa

A house in Ganja la Simba, and a third arrest at the scene

Officers recovered the 454-kilogram consignment from a house in Ganja la Simba village, in Kinondo Location, Msambweni Sub-County, about 10 kilometres northeast of Msambweni Police Station, The Eastleigh Voice reported, citing the police report; the NPS statement said the narcotics were recovered from two locations in Msambweni. A third suspect, 54-year-old Tanzanian national Hamad Seif Said, was arrested at the premises. Police said the three arrested in the operation were two Tanzanian nationals and a Ugandan woman.

Source: The Eastleigh Voice, Nov 8 2026 — 454kg recovered from a house in Ganja la Simba village, Kinondo, Msambweni; third suspect Hamad Seif Said, 54, arrested at the premises; exhibits transferred to the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau Coast HQ in Mombasa

The scene was documented by crime scene investigators from Kwale, and the suspects and exhibits were transferred to the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau's Coast regional headquarters in Mombasa for further investigations. Police also seized vehicles linked to the alleged network — two motor vehicles and a motorcycle, according to Radio Generation's report of the NPS account. The bureau is now working to establish the source of the drugs, their intended destination and the extent of the suspected cross-border network.

Source: The Eastleigh Voice, Nov 8 2026 — 454kg recovered from a house in Ganja la Simba village, Kinondo, Msambweni; third suspect Hamad Seif Said, 54, arrested at the premises; exhibits transferred to the National Anti-Narcotics Bureau Coast HQ in Mombasa

A cross-border network, police say

The NPS said the operation followed sustained directives by Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja for officers to take decisive action against narcotic drugs, illicit alcohol and other harmful substances through a multi-agency approach. Kwale sits on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast beside the Tanzanian border, and police presented the seizure — built on a Tanzanian arrest, a border handover and a Kenyan raid within three days — as a product of that regional cooperation.

Source: People Daily / National Police Service statement, Nov 8 2026 — Three persons of interest arrested, narcotics valued at about KSh3.6 billion seized from two locations in Msambweni Sub-County; IG Douglas Kanja's multi-agency directive

What happens next

Investigators in Mombasa hold the exhibits and the suspects while they trace where the consignment came from and where it was headed — the questions that will decide whether this was one shipment or part of a larger Kenya–Tanzania trafficking route. Court appearances and laboratory results are the next verified steps. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as police or court records confirm them.