12 suspects set to appear in court after being arrested with 497 kilogrammes of marijuana

A 50-year-old woman is among eight suspects expected to be arraigned in aNakuru courts tomorrow after they were arrested with 497 kilogrammes of marijuana.

Monica Wanjiru together with Nahashon Njoroge, Martin Njoroge, Stephen Kamau, Simon Ndung’u, Maxwell Nduale, Jackson Wanjohi, and John Muthee, aged between 22 and 27 years, were all arrested at a homestead in the Pakawa area near Gilgil, Nakuru County.

Police officers from Elementaita, who got a tip-off from members of the public, called for backup from their Rift Valley regional counterparts before making the raid to arrest the suspects.

The bhang was packed in 21 gunny bags.

“Officers from Elementaita with a backup from their Rift Valley counterparts stormed the homestead at Pakawa where they sized 497 Kgs of marijuana. Eight suspects were arrested during the raid and will be arraigned on Monday,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement.

Their arrest comes a day after four suspected drug traffickers were arrested in Wajir with 10 kilogrammes of bhang.

The four were intercepted by officers from Wajir North while on their way back home from suspected distribution of the substance.

The four, the driver Jibril Ali Noor, 38, the car owner Mohammed Abdikadir Mohammud, 30, Adan Ali Abdullahi, 21, and Idow Abdirahaman Adow, 70, were booked at Bute Police Station pending processing and arraignment in court tomorrow.

A recent study by the National Authority for Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) revealed that one in every six university students (18 per cent) have used at least one type of cannabis in their lifetime while one in every seven university students (14.9 per cent) have smoked cannabis.

The study added that half of university students in Kenya have used a drug or substance of abuse in their lifetime.