Bhang worth Sh300,000 destroyed in Athi River

Bhang worth Sh300,000 was on Monday destroyed in Athi River, Machakos county.

Local administrators led by Mavoko chief Nzau Komo uprooted the bushes (from which cannabis is extracted) from a makeshift house in Kanaani slum.

The raid followed a tip off from a village elder.

“We got information from a village elder that there was a house at the slum in which bhang bushes were growing. The informant said the house was rarely opened and nobody lives there,” Komo told the Star at his office in Athi River.

He said they broke into the mabati structure and after “peeping through a gap on the closed door, we saw some vegetation and confirmed that it was bhang.” 

They suspected that the owner irrigated the bhang because it was fresh and green.

Komo was assisted in uprooting the bushes by Kanaani assistant chief Patricia Mwanzia and local volunteers.

“We uprooted everything. The structure was in an isolated area measuring 30 by 20 metres.”

He suspected the bhang was supplied to peddlers in Athi River and the neighbourhood.

Komo said they are looking for the bhang farmer. “We will arrest him. This is the first case in Kanaani.”

He warned the public against engaging in illicit trade such as marijuana and other drugs.

Residents said there has been an increase  in drug abuse in the town on the Nairobi-Mombasa road since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Seven boys were arrested with bhang in the town barely two weeks ago.

Athi River subcounty children's volunteer Elijah Mboya said the boys were neglected by society.

Mboya, a traffic marshal with the Machakos county government, said he had rescued 40 such children - 37 boys and three girls - along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway since March.

“The boy child has been neglected especially during this time when the world is struggling with Covid-19. The situation has forced teenage boys into outlawed groupings and illegal activities,” he said.

Edited by Henry Makori