Police reported two separate cannabis seizures in Kitui County, including rolls allegedly concealed in a rice parcel.
DCI says officers found the rolls in food intended for a remandee, while a separate roadblock search in Kitui County uncovered 13 bales of cannabis.
A 24-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly trying to take 69 rolls of bhang into Kitui Police Station in a parcel of rice said to be intended for a remandee.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) identified the suspect as Dickens Tito. The agency said officers inspected the food after becoming suspicious and discovered the rolls concealed beneath the rice, together with 33 matchsticks.
The arrest was one of two separate cannabis interceptions reported by the DCI in Kitui County. In the other incident, officers at a highway roadblock arrested a passenger after allegedly finding 13 bales of cannabis in a briefcase.
Officers inspect rice parcel
According to the DCI, Tito was arrested at the police station after officers on duty checked the parcel he had brought for a person in remand.
The inspection exposed the alleged attempt to conceal the bhang within the food. Officers moved aside the rice and recovered the 69 rolls and matchsticks before the consignment could be passed through the facility’s gates, the agency said.
The DCI described the food as having been intended for an inmate. Its account centred on the discovery inside the parcel and Tito’s arrest at the station.
Roadblock search uncovers 13 bales
In the second incident, a multi-agency security team stopped a public service vehicle at Kanyonyoo, along the Thika–Garissa Highway, for a routine luggage inspection.
The vehicle was travelling from Kitui to Embu. During the check, officers searched its rear boot and found a pink briefcase which the DCI said belonged to 29-year-old Justice Kabila Njanja.
Inside the briefcase, officers allegedly recovered 13 bales of cannabis sativa. The agency said the bales had been tightly packaged using yellow sealing tape.
Njanja was arrested at the roadblock and taken into custody following the discovery. The highway interception was separate from the alleged attempt to take bhang into Kitui Police Station, although both incidents occurred in the county.
Suspects held as investigations continue
The DCI said both men remained in custody pending further investigations and their expected arraignment. The cannabis recovered in the two operations has been retained as exhibits.
The agency presented the arrests as part of ongoing operations against narcotics trafficking in Kitui County, involving officers at police facilities as well as teams conducting checks on the roads.
It said it would continue working with other law-enforcement agencies to intercept illicit consignments, disrupt drug networks and pursue those involved in trafficking. The allegations against Tito and Njanja remain subject to the ongoing investigations and court process.
