Boda boda rider drops sack with 844 bullets in Moyale

Security agents at the Kenya-Ethiopia border in Moyale have seized more than 844 assorted bullets in an operation that indicates a new worrying trend.

The team, seized 310 rounds of calibre 7.62*39 mm and 534 calibre 7.62*51 mm from a gunny bag that had been dropped off by a boda boda rider and his pillion at Somare hills.

Police said the bullets had originated in Ethiopia and were to be dropped in Butiye for onward transmission to Marsabit and most likely Nairobi, where there is a huge market.

A team that had laid ambush on the traffickers said they sped off towards the main border amid gunfire.

This, according to Eastern police boss Rono Bunei, indicates that weapon traffickers are shifting their business on the porous route.

He said they had intensified operations as part of efforts to contain the threat, which may threaten peace.

The area is one of those seen as a source of insecurity and a breeding ground for terror suspects.

It is also suspected the bullets would be used in the unending inter-clan fighting in the area.

A security operation in Marsabit has pushed most traffickers to other routes but they seem to be regrouping, after learning the situation is calmer.

The operation dubbed “Operation Rejesha Amani Marsabit” led to the surrender of weapons by some residents.

This followed incessant inter-ethnic attacks that have defied peace initiatives.

The animosity between the Borana and Gabra communities has progressively boiled over.

Officials said rival groups have been armed and transformed into competitive militias, meting out violence on innocent civilians in what has become one of the costliest security challenges in the country.

The officers in the operation said they had also burst a racket of drug traffickers and recovered a large haul of marijuana drugs.

Officials say the traffickers use oil tankers to haul their consignments into the country

Most of the narcotics originate from Ethiopia, where they are packaged for the market in Nairobi and other major towns.

The border town of Moyale in Northern Kenya is an entry point for large hauls of bhang widely grown in Southern Ethiopia.

Once the bhang leaves Shashamane, it heads down south to the border points of Moyale, Sololo, Corolla, Uran and Dukana. Others use Mandera, Wajir, Garissa route.

The other route runs from Funannyata in Sololo, Marsabit, to the Yamicha plains of Merti subcounty, Isiolo.

They take the consignments to Eastleigh, Majengo and Mlango Kubwa for repackaging and distribution.

In March 2020, detectives arrested a man with 56 bales of bhang, packaged like second-hand clothes. The consignment weighed 466kgs.

A lorry driver was also arrested after he was found transporting 135 bales of bhang from Ethiopia. The narcotics were hidden inside a fuel tanker.

In the past two years, more than 10 fuel tankers transporting bhang worth more than Sh200 million have been seized by officers on the highways.

Sometimes the smugglers hide the rolls of bhang in the spare wheels or make additional compartments underneath the lorries and buses.

Police have since laid several roadblocks on major roads to tame the trafficking.

 

Edited by Kiilu Damaris