Stephen Muiruri
22 November 2005
Nairobi — A soccer player is being questioned by the police over suspicion of drug trafficking.
They arrested him at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on November 17 as he prepared to fly to an African country where he is a professional.
Anti-narcotics police chief Bernard Nyakwaka said airport security officers, during routine checks, demanded to inspect his luggage.
"They found nine pellets stuffed with heroin in a small bag he was carrying," he said.
"The player was briefly questioned at the departure lobby before he was whisked away to the offices of the Kenya airport police unit.
"The officers put him under observation because they suspected he had swallowed more pellets."
The officer said the footballer was locked up in a special observation room and given food. "Between November 14 and yesterday (Sunday), he had emitted 21 pellets which had heroin," Mr Nyakwaka said. "This makes a total of 30 pellets. The pellets were stuffed with heroin with a street value of Sh300,000."
Mr Nyakwaka said the soccer player was stopped as he was preparing to board a 6.30am Kenya Airways flight. Investigations, he said, were complete and the officers who arrested him had recorded statements.
The suspect is to be taken to court on Thursday.
His arrest happened a day after a Nigerian woman was seized at the airport with cocaine worth Sh26 million.
The drugs were hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase of clothes, police said.
The 51-year-old woman had just arrived aboard a Kenya Airways flight at 6.30am.
At the same time, Mr Nyakwaka said police were holding four Ugandans in connection with 300kg of bhang they intercepted being transported on a lorry to Nairobi.
The vehicle which was carrying pineapples from Kampala, was stopped at a roadblock in Njoro, near Nakuru Town, on November 18. The haul was hidden among the pineapples.
The suspects and the lorry were being held at the Nakuru police station, Mr Nyakwaka said, adding that the foreigners would be taken to court tomorrow.
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