Police arrest two with drugs worth 90,000 USD
Kenyan police said Wednesday they are holding two suspects who were arrested with 10 bags of bhang (marijuana) worth 9 million shillings (90,000 U.S. dollars).
The suspects were arrested in Samburu area, along Nairobi-Mombasa highway with a private car where they had hidden the consignment.
"They must realize we are now serious than ever and because its difficult to recover the bhang while they arrive in Mombasa, we will be arresting them on the highway," said Mombasa Director of Criminal Investigations Officer Antony Mureithi.
Mureithi said the narcotics came from Tanzania-Kenya border town of Migori and was headed to Mombasa for sale. The two include Jared Omondi Omola, 26, and Caleb Otieno, 52, who are still under investigation.
The suspects were arrested after they defied police orders to stop their car which they later changed after being pursued by police officers. He said that the bhang was destined for Likoni area and other parts of the coastal region.
"We have tightened our probe, and we know we will get other suspects in the entire network," Mureithi told journalists in Mombasa.
The bhang consignment is the biggest seizure of the narcotic this year in Mombasa.
The arrests come in the wake of drugs crackdown ordered by the government which has so far led to arrests of foreigners involved in heroin and cocaine trafficking.
Last month, police nabbed 3kg of cocaine worth approximately 120,000 dollars and 2kg of heroin valued at 60,000 dollars and arrested seven suspects among them a police officer.
Security agencies say the Kenya's port city is largely used by drug smuggling individuals as a destination and route to other East African countries. (Xinhua)
