Separate police operations conducted in various parts of the country on Saturday and Sunday arrested about 40 people said to have been running narcotic drugs businesses.
Those arrested include traffickers, who were arrested red-handed trying to sneak drugs into the country, motorcyclists who facilitate them to transport the drugs from point-to-point, and those running local retail shops.
A ring of 35 traffickers was busted in Burera District as they tried to cross through the swamp in Rugarama Village of Rwasa Cell in Gatebe Sector, with sacks and boxes of contrabands in different brands, and other assorted narcotics.
“On Saturday evening at about 4pm, a resident of Rugarama Village reported a group of people that he was very sure would use the swamp from Uganda with narcotics,” CIP Hamdun Twizeyimana, the police spokesperson for the Northern region, said.
How they use the waters
Others wrap them in waterproof materials, use long ropes that are tied in their legs. With the luggage being in the water, it is easy to pull them with legs; others make backpacks out of sacks, which they carry at the back to make it look like they’re from running errands in their gardens.
Burera is marked as one of the major transit route for traffickers. The ongoing countrywide awareness against illicit drugs, was officially launched in Burera, last year, where about 160 drug dealers arrested within a space of a week, were paraded.
The motorcycles were impounded to Nyagatare Police station, Chief Inspector of Police ( CIP ) Theobald Kanamugire, the police spokesperson for the Eastern Province, said.