The three suspects include one driver and two other occupants who were driving what the police confirmed to be Toyota Axio make vehicle.
Busia County Police Commander, John Nyoike, told kenyagist.com that the three were arrested along the highway heading to a destination the police were yet to establish.
He also noted that the three were all Kenyan nationals. The suspects were arraigned at the Busia High Court on Monday, December 16, as the investigations began.
According to Nyoike, there were three other seizures of smuggled bhang in the area with a number of pending court cases.
The Standard reported that the Nyoike urged citizens to steer clear of illegal trade warning that the consequences would be dire.
“Business like this one is not good. Let them do legit business that will not have any problem with law enforcement agencies,” he is quoted in the publication.
Earlier in June 2019, the Daily Nation intimated that the demand for bhang in Nairobi was so high that a single stick of bhang previously retailing 10 shillings two years ago was going for up to 50 shillings.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i condemned the calls for the legalisation of bhang for pharmaceutical purposes after the police had seized five million shillings worth of the substance in Thika.
“Which government will accept those kinds of things? Don’t tell me that it is business. This is business leading to the death and destruction of our children. You cannot make money at the altar of destroying our young people.” Matiang’i had argued as quoted in the publication.
The increase in the number of cases of the drug being smuggled through the Uganda-Kenya border can be attributed to the fact that Uganda has for several years had some level of tolerance for use of cannabis and kick-started a process to export medical marijuana.
The publication further intimated that, Uganda, from July 2019 had hoped to make a reported USD5.9 million (about Ksh600 million) from exporting medical marijuana products to Canada and Germany.
