Obama's half-brother arrested in Nairobi on drugs charge

The Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama was arrested yesterday for alleged possession of marijuana near his home in a Nairobi shantytown.

George Obama, 24, had one joint in his possession, said Joshua Omokulongolo, the police chief in the area. "He is not a drug pedlar," said Mr Omokulongolo. "But it's illegal; it's a banned substance."

Mr Obama is due to appear in court tomorrow. He and the President have the same father, who died in a car crash in 1982. Last year, George told Vanity Fair that he had met Barack only twice: when he was five and when the future president visited East Africa in 2006. The magazine said he lived in a shack and earned a dollar a day, but Mr Obama called such reports insulting, saying: "I'm proud of how I live."

The Kenyan, who lives with his extended family in the tough area of Huruma, said he was studying to be a mechanic. George is the youngest of Barack Obama Snr's seven children and was born six months before his father died.