Police steps up vigilance on drug routes

As part of ongoing efforts to curb substance abuse, Rwanda National Police has beefed up security along the Kigali-Musanze highway, which is cited as a major transit route to sneak drugs into the country from neighbouring countries.On Wednesday, police mounted a random roadblock on the route and arrested several suspects with the assistance of sniffer dogs. This follows a similar operation in Eastern Province. The operation targeted transit, public transport as well as private vehicles.According to the Police, most of the drugs in Kigali are sourced from Rubavu and Kirehe districts in Western and Eastern provinces, respectively.Reports indicated that drug dealers connive mainly with transit drivers to transport the drugs to Kigali by concealing them underneath their vehicles.This scheme, however, seems to have run its course as security officials have exposed it. The dealers have new means by either stashing the drugs in their clothes or ferrying the merchandise using newly imported vehicles. Just last week, three drug trafficking suspects were arrested in different parts of Kigali. Another one was nabbed in Ngoma District with about 20 kilogrammes of cannabis and 14 litres of illicit brew commonly known as kanyanga.The use of sniffer dogs along highways is seen as an effective way to seize drugs that police officers might otherwise overlook. Though no one was arrested in the three-hour operation , the director of anti-narcotics unit, Supt Emmanuel Ngondo, said such operations were necessary.“This is an exercise we perform randomly or when we have clear intelligence information regarding transportation of narcotics.” Atleast 592 people, among them 57 females, were apprehended during the first two months of the year for narcotics related crimes, according to the latest report of the anti-narcotics unit of the national police.Over 1,000 litres of kanyanga and 659 kilogrammes of marijuana were also seized during the same period.Most of the drug-related crimes that have topped the crime list for the past few years were registered in the Eastern Province About 2,720 cases involving drug trafficking and abuse were recorded last year.“Our target is to break the supply chain. That way, we will be able to contain drug proliferation and discourage consumption,” Police spokesperson, Supt. Theos Badege stated.