Police in Mombasa have arrested a lady after she was found with bhang worth Ksh25 million.
In a statement on Saturday, September 21, 2024, police noted that Cynthia Anyango was arrested in the Kiembeni area, where she was found with sacks of bhang weighing 865 kilogrammes.
“Police in Mombasa on September 20, 2024, arrested one Cynthia Anyango in the Kiambeni area and recovered 864.9 kg of marijuana with a street value of Ksh25,407,000. The matter is under investigation by the Anti-Narcotics Police Unit.
“We sincerely thank members of the public for their unwavering support in the fight against narcotic drugs,” the statement read in part.
Police say the owner of the sacks escaped a police dragnet during the raid on Green Estate but noted that they were hot on his pursuit.
The seizure adds to an intensified crackdown on bhang in the country, where police have been confiscating loads of the drug weekly.
On September 11, police officers nabbed three suspects after discovering that they had concealed 50 rolls of dry greenish plant material in a sack. The three were arrested at the Sabaki Bridge area and taken to police custody.
Unique bhang
Earlier that week, detectives drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested two suspects with a unique type of bhang whose street value was estimated to be Ksh8,000 per gram.
DCI, in a statement issued via their official social media accounts on Sunday, September 8, 2024, said the arrest followed an operation conducted by the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU).
According to the anti-crime agency, Teresia Nduku, a Kenyan national, and her Tanzanian accomplice, Simba Kitwana Khamri, were arrested in Donholm, Nairobi.
“An operation conducted by the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) officers domiciled at the DCI headquarters led to the apprehension of two notorious drug traffickers, Teresia Nduku, a Kenyan, and Simba Kitwana Khamri, a Tanzanian national, in Donholm, Nairobi,” DCI’s statement reads in part.
The DCI, in their statement, went ahead to note that through their investigation, they had found out that the said unique type of bhang had originated from foreign lands and infiltrated Kenya via the Namanga border.
Further, the DCI says the investigation revealed that the Tanzanian suspect had come to Kenya as an expert in packaging and disguising the bhang in backpacks for distribution to consumers worldwide.
“Investigation revealed that this is a unique type of cannabis sativa that originated from foreign lands and infiltrated Kenya via the Namanga border. It was further revealed that the Tanzanian suspect came to Kenya as a maestro in skillful packaging and disguising the illicit drug in backpacks for distribution to consumers worldwide,” the DCI stated.
The Mohamed Amin-led agency says they were able to establish the street value of the unique type of bhang through intelligence reports.
