A youthful Congolese national called Sam Chirwa has been nabbed in Kenya on suspicion of being a major money launderer, alongside a local business woman.
A Polish pilot we can only identify as ‘Pijanowski’ is suspected to have brought in the large amount of ‘undeclared’ foreign currency in cash that the local business woman was to ‘wash’ through a laundry machine of many legitimate businesses in the country, but the Pole slipped the police net (last weekend) that had been erected by authorities, leaving the Congolese Chirwa, the Kenyan woman and the consignment of dirty cash in police custody.
Chirwa, a relatively youthful ‘businessman’ was in the cannabis sativa exportation trade in Zimbabwe, prior to the money laundering misadventure, and was exporting marijuana to associates in Denmark, where its manufacture and distribution for “medicinal purposes” is perfectly legal, before getting into cleansing currency plots with the Polish pilot, who may well be on the way to Warsaw, leaving the Congolese and his female associate in custody under the steel saw of the Kenyan Law, as authorities continue to investigate the case, with the duo due to have their ‘dog’ day in court in the course of the week.
Kenyan authorities have been on high alert for ‘money laundering’ matters lately, especially after the large seizure of methamphetamines in international waters from a stateless vessel called “Igor” this past weekend, reckoning that there must be money to “mop up the meth,” although there is no demonstrable co-relation between the content of ‘Igor,’ and the consignment of cash that Sam Chirwa is being held for.
The Regional Maritime Information Fusion Center, based in Madagascar. was one of the multi-agency teams, alongside the RCOC in Seychelles, that helped the Kenya Navy nab the stateless vessel ‘Igor’ over the weekend, which was pursued and boarded after refusing to slow down or stop – and on board, six Iranians were found with 769 crystalline meth packets that were concealed in black polythene bag wrapped with a yellow tape labeled “100 per cent roasted and grounded Arabica coffee“.
The Regional Maritime Information Fusion Center provided actionable intelligence while the Seychelles government provided a maritime patrol aircraft for surveillance and updates, that then enabled an operation code-named Bahari Safi 2025.01 conducted under the RCOC 2025 Action Plan.
Under this operation, the military deployed Kenya Navy Ship (KNS) Shupavu and a Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft operated by the Seychelles Coast Guard.
KNS Shupavu then towed the intercepted vessel 630 kilometers off the shoreline of our coast, along with its crew, to the port of Mombasa where it was handed over to the Kenya Police Service Anti-Narcotics Unit for further investigations and prosecution of the six, who appeared in Shanzu court yesterday as the chief magistrate questioned the competence of their translator the Iranian language.
The operation is part of Kenya’s commitment to working with partners, in combating transnational organized crime, protecting its maritime domain and upholding regional and international obligations in the Western Indian Ocean region.
Going by the passport of Mr. Chirwa, the cannabis exporter is well travelled, from the DRC to Denmark, as well as operating in Zimbabwe and Kenya with ease, with the pilot being the missing part of this (Polish) puzzle of the money-launderer parcel.
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