Police from Operations Support Unit of Directorate of Criminal Investigations Friday seized 67 bales of bhang and arrested two traffickers at Kimbimbi area of Mwea in Kirinyaga County.
This came after a painstaking intelligence-led pursuit of two vehicles from Moyale at the border of Kenya and Ethiopia, police said.
According to police, getting wind that a syndicate notorious for trafficking the hard drug from Moyale was changing tactics from transporting the ‘cargo’ in false lorry compartments to using less suspicious saloon cars, surveillance teams of OSU hawkshaws were deployed along routes used by the felons to evade roadblocks.
At 2pm on Friday March 8, the first vehicle, a Nissan Primera (Infiniti G20) was intercepted at Kimbimbi, where upon search 30 bales of the prohibited herb stashed in gunny bags were found.
The driver of the car who hails from Runyenjes in Embu County was also arrested in the operation.
Minutes later, a Toyota NZE fully packed with another 37 bales revved fast towards Makutano junction, but not fast enough to shake off the hotly pursuing sleuths.
After a barren escape attempt, the driver was also nabbed and cuffed, before the seizure and the suspects were escorted to Nairobi for further processing.
The seizure comes barely a month after another 132 bales of bhang ferried in a truck were confiscated along the Garissa-Thika Road in Mwingi and two suspects arrested.
In the February 9, 2024 joint operation, 28 bales had initially been found stashed on the roof cabin of the lorry that ferried mattresses in guise, before a further thorough search revealed a false bottom reinforced with strong bolts and rails where another 104 bales were discovered.
Police have mounted an operation targeting the business seizing dozens of bales valued at millions of shillings.
Most of the narcotics originate from Ethiopia where they are packaged for the market in Nairobi and other major towns.
Police say the traffickers use the porous Kenya-Ethiopia border to get their illegal consignment into the country.
The border town of Moyale in northern Kenya is an entry point for large hauls of bhang widely grown in southern Ethiopia.
Once the bhang leaves Shashamane, it heads down south to the border points of Moyale, Sololo, Corolla, Uran and Dukana. Others use Mandera, Wajir, Garissa route.
The other route runs from Funannyata in Sololo, Marsabit county, to the Yamicha plains of Merti subcounty in Isiolo.
They take the consignments to Eastleigh, Majengo and Mlango Kubwa for repackaging and distribution.
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