Security officers in Kisumu have destroyed ten sacks of bhang valued at Sh13.1 million following an order by the courts.
The 438-kg consignment was impounded on February13, 2024 by DCI officers on patrol at Otonglo area along the busy Kisumu-Busia highway.
Nyanza Regional Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Coordinator George Kisaka said the anti-narcotics sleuths spotted a motor vehicle registration number KAQ 211T parked at an eatery in the area and conducted a search on the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) portal which established that the registration number was assigned to another vehicle.
“The officers laid an ambush but the owners of the car did not show up prompting them to search the vehicle where ten sacks of cannabis sativa weighing 438kgs with a street value of Sh 13,140,000 were discovered,” he said.
Samples of the exhibits, he said, were taken to the government chemist in Kisumu where it was confirmed to be narcotic drugs.
The destruction of the consignment which was overseen by Nyanza Regional Commissioner (RC) Flora Mworoa, officers from the Judiciary, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). and the regional security team, he said, came after a successful miscellaneous criminal application to the courts.
Kisaka said the exercise was a big step in the fight against drugs in the area adding that it will help in ensuring that the drugs do not find their way back to the streets while at the same time decongesting the police exhibit stores.
The Nyanza Regional Commissioner lauded the anti-narcotics police officers and the regional security team for the intensified campaign against drugs in the area.
Cases of drugs and substance abuse, she said, were on the rise in the area adding that the crackdown will continue until all the perpetrators are brought to book.
“I want to send a warning to all the drug traffickers that we are coming for you,” Mworoa said.
Drug abuse, she said, was directly linked to insecurity, adding that the campaign targets all illicit brew dens where criminal activities are planned to ensure that the region remains safe.
“The security in this region is good. However, we have had some cases here in Kisumu and we are dealing with them. Yesterday we arrested some two young men and if you look at them you can see clearly that they are doing drugs,” she said.
By Chris Mahandara
