Police arrest students with chang’aa on school trip

Police have impounded a bus found transporting inebriated high school students.

The six students from New Mwangaza Mixed Secondary School in Kariobangi, Nairobi, were arrested on Saturday alongside three of their teachers who were accompanying them on a trip to Ol Donyo Sabuk in Machakos County.

The nine were locked up after police found more than 10 litres of chang’aa packed in polythene bags, and a five-litre container and several bottles of wines and spirits inside the hired bus.

The vehicle was seized near Witeithie Estate on the Thika Superhighway.

A number of other students were seen engaging in indecent behaviour aboard the vehicle. “One of the girls was naked,” said a source who requested to remain anonymous.

The learners are said to have been mixing the chang’aa with Malta Guinness, a non-alcoholic drink, in an attempt to conceal the illicit liquor.

Witnesses said the police noticed something suspicious going on inside the bus as it was heading towards Thika Town and stopped it.

Loud music was being played inside, with students dancing and sipping chang’aa.

“The way some of them were dancing and holding each other was unacceptable,” said another witness, who also requested not to be named.

The bus is said to have been carrying excess passengers, a matter that saw the driver and the conductor also taken into police custody.

When they arrived at the Thika Police Station, some students denied having taken alcohol despite smelling of chang’aa and appearing drunken.

“We were heading to Ol Donyo Sabuk on a school trip. Some students who were standing had Malta Guinness. When the police stopped us, they alleged the students were taking alcohol. They also accused the driver of overloading the bus,” said one students.

He said the police mistook the Malta Guinness drink for alcohol and arrested them.

The police are yet to give an official statement over the issue. They said investigations were still under way.