Sh1m bhang disguised as second-hand clothes seized in Migori

Police in Migori have impounded 122kg of bhang on Migori-Kisii highway only two days after a woman was arrested on the same road transporting 20kg of the drug.

The haul, estimated to be worth Sh1 million, was being smuggled from Tanzania through Sirare-Isibania border.

Police intercepted the matatu that was transporting the bhang at Mabera on Thursday night.

"The driver and the conductor of the matatu managed to escape but we are searching for them," said Mr Joseph Nthenge, Migori County Police Commander.

TRAFFICKERS TRICKS

The bhang had been disguised as bales of second-hand clothes imported from Tanzania.

The police boss said disguising the bhang as bales of second-hand clothes is one ingenious ways traffickers have devised to escape police dragnets.

The bales are sprayed with powerful perfumes to get rid of the pungent smell of bhang.

"We know the tricks the traffickers are now using. We shall pursue them with renewed vigour," said Mr Nthenge, adding that the drug traffickers have resorted to transporting the drugs late in the evening and early in the morning.

PASSENGERS WARNED

Mr Nthenge said he has ordered all second-hand clothes bales transported in matatus and private vehicles to be inspected as the fight against drug trafficking intensifies in Migori County.

The county police boss also called on passengers to be on the lookout and report suspicious luggage.

"I urge the members of the public to be vigilant and report suspected cases of drug trafficking in the vehicles they have boarded or else they shall also be answerable should the vehicle be found with bhang," said Mr Nthenge.

The police in Migori have in the past few days nabbed several hauls of bhang, signalling a rise in the drug trafficking menace.

Bhang worth over Sh8 million has been seized in Migori County in the last two weeks.

ARRESTS

On Tuesday this week, a woman was arrested trafficking 20kg of bhang in a matatu heading to Migori from Isibania.

A week ago, a 17-year-old teenager was also arrested trafficking bhang worth Sh300,000 stuffed in maize bags. A day before the incident involving the teenager, police had impounded 10 bags of bhang hidden in a maize farm in Bwembe village, Suna West sub-county which borders Tanzania and arrested a suspect identified as Mr Duncan Ochieng’.

"This crime is clearly on the rise but the police have also doubled their efforts in reining the crime and arresting the perpetrators. We will not relent until the menace is stamped out," said Migori County Commissioner Joseph Rotich.

Mr Rotich attributed the prevalence of the menace in the region to the ready availability of bhang in neighbouring Tanzania.

"The challenge we have in this war is that the drug is freely grown in Tanzania. Therefore, the drug traffickers find it easy to sneak into the country and get the drug easily," added Mr Rotich.

MINORS

The drug trafficking menace has roped in children, who are involved in ferrying the drugs across the border.

The minors, some as young as 10 years old, are given small luggage disguised as rice, maize or other food stuffs but within the packets lie rolls of bhang. They then deliver the consignments to peddlers on the Kenyan side.