• The drone will be used to access areas suspected to be used by illicit brewers as their dens
• The brewers mostly conduct their trade along rivers in areas that have cliffs and gorges that are hard to access
Image: Alice Waithera
Murang’a county security team has taken the war on drugs and illicit brew a notch higher—by using a drone.
County commissioner Mohamed Barre on Wednesday said the drone will be used for surveillance in areas suspected to be brewers and drug peddlers’ dens.
He said most brewers conduct their business in areas with deep cliffs and gorges that are hard to access. “Majority of illicit brewers are stationed along river banks in areas that are very hard to access,” Barre said.
Bushes and coffee plantations along the rivers provide a conducive environment for brewers to conduct their illicit trade.
He said the security team has plans to meet with managers of coffee plantations bordering Chania River as their workers have also been brewing illicit brews.
Barre, who spoke during an inspection tour in Gatanga, said that the drone has a powerful camera that can rotate and can take clear images of people on the ground.
When the drone identifies a place that requires immediate attention from security agents, officers will be immediately dispatched to the area, he said.
The drone has a screen that is controlled from the ground but it can fly about 10 kilometres away from where it is being controlled.
The commissioner expressed confidence that the new method will be instrumental in winning the fight against illicit brew that have for a long time dogged the region.
He said the drone has assisted police in the arrest of five brewers and the confiscation of hundreds of litres of brew on Tuesday.
In one month, 58 suspects have been arrested and charged.
He said the security team will also be working closely with the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) to ensure illicit brews and drugs are totally eliminated. “Drugs and alcoholism have been taking a very dangerous trend in the county and it has to be stopped by all means,” Barre said.
Leaders have raised the alarm over the increasing usage of drugs, which is spreading to schools.
In July, police arrested 83 people who were patronising a club in which 146 rolls of bhang were found in Kenol town. The suspects were attending a party that required all its participants to buy a roll of bhang to be allowed in.
The drug has become too common and is being peddled to children, increasing the levels of criminal activity in the county, including sexual offences.
Last month, the county assembly launched a drug eradication programme that involved the drafting of a law targeting suppliers, peddlers, transporters, processors and consumers of drugs.
The law being worked on will state specific responsibilities for parents, teachers, administrators and security officers in the fight against specified punitive action for those who fail to execute their mandate.
The campaign will be led by the assembly, the speaker and the governor with the aim of saving local youths from an imminent destruction with members saying the easy availability of drugs in the county endangers children’s lives.