Editor's Review

The specialised unit was launched by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has announced the deployment of a specialised team to tackle transnational crime on the Kenyan borders. 

According to the DCI, the operationalisation of the squad is a major step in the fight against trafficking and migrant smuggling networks.

"The deployment marks a significant milestone in the DCI’s continued efforts to stay ahead of sophisticated criminal networks that exploit borders, immigration systems and vulnerable persons for profit," the agency said in a statement Saturday, July 25.

The 29-member Counter-Organised Immigration Crime Team (COICT) was flagged off Friday, July by DCI boss Mohamed Amin at the Border Police Training Campus in Kanyonyoo, Kitui County, where the team was subjected to an intensive specialised training.

The team, which falls under the DCI's Serious Crime Unit, will be posted to key border stations across the country, where it is expected to move immediately against trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, travel document fraud and other cross-border crimes.

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The training that produced the unit was delivered under the East Africa Border Security Programme, funded by the British High Commission and coordinated by experts from the National Police Service working alongside partner organisations VALAR and HAART Kenya.

DCI boss Mohamed Amin launched a specialised unit to guard the Kenyan borders.

Officers were taken through modules covering intelligence-led investigations, investigative interviewing, trafficking and smuggling casework, digital and financial evidence handling, crime-scene processing, international cooperation, victim-centred approaches, human rights, ethics and joint operational planning.

Addressing the newly trained officers, Amin congratulated them on completing the programme and reminded them that their investigations must meet high standards of professionalism, integrity and accountability.

He told the team that operational decisions had to be intelligence-led, evidence-based and grounded in the Constitution, the National Police Service Act and other applicable laws, while also stressing their responsibility to protect the rights and dignity of victims even as they worked to deny criminal networks access to Kenya's borders.

Representing the British High Commission, Ben Fisher called the rapid operationalisation of COICT a landmark achievement and the first unit of its kind in East Africa, crediting the long-standing security partnership between Kenya and the United Kingdom for making it possible.

Speaking on behalf of the Deputy Inspector General of the Administration Police Service, APS Director of Security Operations Jackson Kangani urged the officers to turn their training into concrete results: dismantled criminal syndicates, rescued victims, successful prosecutions, and safer communities.

The DCI says the new unit reflects its broader push to build specialised investigative capacity, deepen inter-agency collaboration and strengthen intelligence-led responses to increasingly complex security threats. With training now complete, the team moves from the classroom to active deployment at the border.