The United States Department of Justice is seeking a life sentence for Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, accused of playing a central role in facilitating weapons deals for Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) — one of the world’s most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Asumo helped funnel firearms crucial to the cartel’s international operations, further exposing the CJNG’s growing footprint in East Africa, particularly Kenya.
CJNG’s East African Expansion
The case has drawn renewed attention to the CJNG’s global reach, especially after a 2024 methamphetamine lab bust in Namanga, near the Kenya-Tanzania border. The lab — camouflaged as a poultry farm — was dismantled following a joint operation involving Kenyan authorities and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Inside the compound, law enforcement officers discovered precursor chemicals and sophisticated equipment used for large-scale meth production. Arrests included Mexican national Israel Alvarado Vera, two Nigerian suspects — Egwu Ogba Mba and Ojukwu Awu (alias “Pastor”), and a Kenyan accomplice, Betty Mukami Micheni.
The U.S. State Department, in its 2024 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, cited the Namanga bust as a landmark achievement, calling it “the first confirmed large-scale operation by a Mexican cartel in Kenya.”
“This case underscores how global criminal networks exploit weak border controls and strategic trade routes in Africa to traffic narcotics to Europe and Asia,” the report said.
Elisha Asumo’s Alleged Role
Asumo is accused of brokering arms transactions that enhanced the cartel’s capabilities in Mexico and beyond. U.S. officials describe him as a key international facilitator within a network that stretches from Latin America to East Africa.
His prosecution is likely to unearth further links between organized crime in Mexico and criminal syndicates operating across the African continent, a development that poses new challenges to global law enforcement.
A Wake-Up Call for Africa
Security analysts warn that Africa’s porous borders, weak surveillance infrastructure, and evolving logistics hubs make it an attractive operational base for cartels like the CJNG. Kenya, with its position along major maritime and air routes, has emerged as a strategic node for illicit drug trafficking to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
As transnational criminal organizations become more interconnected, experts argue that robust international cooperation, intelligence sharing, and anti-corruption enforcement are essential to stem the tide of criminal expansion into Africa.
What’s Next?
As the legal case against Asumo proceeds in the U.S., it is expected to shed further light on the extent of CJNG’s presence in Kenya, and how local players are being co-opted into powerful global crime networks. His fate may become a benchmark for how seriously the international community is willing to confront the globalization of organized crime.
