Africa-Press – Kenya. Three suspects were arrested early Sunday morning along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway in possession of 203.4 kilograms of cannabis valued at Sh6.1 million.
The suspects, two men and a woman, were intercepted at the Bonje area in Jomvu Sub-County at 6.45am while traveling on a trailer.
Jomvu Sub-County Police Commander Celina Chirchir said the operation was conducted by a multi-agency team led by the Anti-Narcotics Unit following a tip-off from members of the public.
“We received intelligence that a lorry was coming from Kampala. We laid a trap and waited for them from 4am. Upon searching the trailer, we found three individuals and three sacks of cannabis,” said Chirchir.
The police commander revealed that the trailer had been under surveillance from Uganda and had diverted to Thika before heading to Mombasa. The driver claimed he had gone to deliver chicken feed in Thika.
Commander Chirchir said one of the suspects, the woman, had been on police radar for an extended period and had been using multiple false identities to evade arrest. Officers recovered her original identification card during the arrest.
“We have been searching for this woman for a long time. She had been evading us using false names, but today we finally arrested her,” she said.
The police commander noted that drug traffickers have been using commercial lorries to transport narcotics, assuming that law enforcement officers would not search large vehicles.
“The individuals ferrying drugs have been using lorries thinking that we are not going to search them. We are searching everything on the road. When they saw that small vehicles were being nabbed, they switched to lorries,” Chirchir explained.
She added that the lorry driver, who is not permitted to carry unauthorized passengers according to his company’s guidelines, voluntarily carried the suspects and will also face charges.
The suspects and the seized narcotics were taken to Jomvu Police Station before being transferred to regional headquarters. They have been booked at Central Police Station and are expected to be arraigned in court on Monday.
Chirchir commended members of the public for their cooperation in providing crucial intelligence that led to the successful operation.
“We want to thank the citizens for working with us and informing us about this lorry. Following the president’s directive, we are going to deal with drugs and alcohol, and you can see the results,” she said.
