HOW POLICE CRACKED A VICIOUS DRUGS RING

Nairobi -- A kingpin in the international drug trade, nicknamed
"President", has been operating in Kenya, we can reveal.

Investigators busted the intricate network of the Cameroonian, whose base
is in Dubai, when they raided a popular nightspot in the city last week.
The man is said to be one of the world's dreaded drug lords.

Police are holding several people, including the drug baron's wife.
However, "President" was not arrested during the raid, having travelled to
Dubai a week earlier.

Today, top-of-the range red-roofed vehicles, which his foot-runners use,
are lined up at the CID headquarters, where they were towed following the bust.

They are painted a glowing red to allow his "supervisors" and, where
necessary, himself to monitor the consignments' movement on road from a
small plane.

The man simply goes by the name, "President", - a name commensurate with
his status as a continental chief of a hideous and vicious drug network
operating from Kenya - a country which raises little suspicion because
consumption and trade in the product pales in comparison with the other
larger economies on the continent.

His network runs its activities from a chain of flats bearing his first
name in Hurlingham area, near a high commission.

The drug baron's Kenyan wife was married to him after another of the
Cameroonian's concubines was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Unit detectives
at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in 2001 with 29.8 kilograms of
heroin.

She was arrested two weeks ago along with 20 foreigners during raids on
several hotels and night clubs in the city in an operation conducted by
detectives from the CID headquarters' Criminal Intelligence division.

International drug trade investigators have shifted the spotlight to Kenya
following the shocking bust and fears that the country could be Africa's
drug-trafficking nerve centre.

The bust baffled even the investigators involved because of its monstrosity
and the superb network - right under the nose of international surveillance
under the United Nations Drugs Control Programme in Nairobi.

The bust brings fears that Kenya could have become the drug-trafficking
conduit to Africa from the Golden Triangle and Goldenn Crescent - made up
of Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mianma and Thailand.

The bust climaxed with a night raid on popular entertainment spots in
Nairobi and increased surveillance on foreigners living in Kenya.

That is when the investigators blew the cover on the network of one of the
world's dreaded kingpins.

A "fat file' of suspected drug traffickers employed by the drug baron,
whose contacts and clients traverse the whole continent, has also been
impounded. All the traffickers who, police have established, are West
Africans were invited to Kenya by the Cameroonian, who also processed their
visa applications.

The detectives who raided the drug baron's residence have impounded ten
vehicles suspected to be among a fleet of cars that transport caches of
heroin and cocaine to various destinations both within and outside the country.

Sources privy to the investigations revealed that one of the vehicles found
in the Cameroonian drug baron's compound and which was later impounded
belongs to a prominent Narc politician.

Preliminary investigations have established that the drug baron monitors
their movement in a light aircraft hired from Wilson Airport.

The vehicles, which are registered in different names, were later towed to
the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters where they are
being detained under tight security as detectives from the Investigations
Bureau pore over their logbooks.

" President" is said to have locked all the vehicles and travelled to Dubai
with the keys. Detectives suspect that caches of either heroin or cocaine
might be stashed in the vehicles.

So far, detectives have discovered that one of the vehicles bares a fake
registration.

The detectives are looking for four other vehicles, also painted red on the
roof, also used by the drug baron to transport drugs.

A CID source revealed that the crackdown on drug traffickers in the country
has been stepped up after detectives established that drug barons were
getting involved in violent crime, including hiring of hit squads.

Detectives hope to arrest the drug baron when he travels back to the
country but if he doesn't Interpol might be requested to track down and
arrest him.