NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 8 — Prosecutors on Tuesday opened their case against six Iranian nationals accused of trafficking narcotics valued at Sh 8.2 billion, with a Kenya Navy officer detailing a coordinated multinational operation that led to their arrest on the high seas.The suspects, Jasem Darzadeh Nia, Rahim Baksh Goharam, Hassan Baloch, Imran Baloch Mustafa, Nadeem Jadgal Abdulgani and Emtiyaz Daryayi appeared before Shanzu Chief Magistrate Anthony Mwicigi as the trial commenced.The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said it plans to call 12 witnesses to support the charges.Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Joseph Kimanthi told the court that Kenya has jurisdiction to try the case under both domestic and international law, arguing the intercepted vessel was engaged in organised narcotics trafficking.“The vessel was not engaged in legitimate activity but in an organised trafficking operation,” Kimanthi said.Principal Prosecution Counsel Alex Ndiema led the testimony of the first witness, Kenya Navy Lieutenant Colonel Joab Gitonga, who outlined how intelligence sharing and regional cooperation enabled authorities to intercept the vessel far from Kenya’s coastline.Gitonga testified that the operation was coordinated through the Regional Coordination Operations Centre (RCOC), a maritime security hub tasked with combating transnational crime in the Indian Ocean.On October 17, 2025, the Kenya Navy received intelligence reports on two suspicious vessels, MV Igor and MV Chevy.Authorities moved to track MV Igor, which was believed to be heading toward the East African coast.With support from a Seychelles Coast Guard patrol aircraft, the vessel was intercepted on October 20, about 350 nautical miles off the Kenyan coast, the court heard.Gitonga told the court that the dhow, later identified as Mashallah, was not flying any flag, failed to respond to radio communication and appeared to be drifting, all indicators commonly associated with illicit maritime activity.A boarding team of marine commandos found six crew members carrying Iranian identification documents but lacking vessel registration papers.A subsequent search uncovered 769 packets of a white crystalline substance initially described as “ice,” later confirmed to be methamphetamine weighing more than one tonne.The vessel was escorted to Mombasa, where it was handed over to a multi-agency team for further investigations.The trial is set to continue as prosecutors present additional witnesses in what authorities describe as one of the region’s largest high seas drug seizures.