Police operations arrest 40 suspected drug dealers

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.

The group had tied the illegal luggage with ropes and using the waters in the swamp as means of transport.

“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.

“An operation was conducted and they were arrested at about 3am after they crossed into Rwanda,” he added.

How they use the waters

They used the cover of the night through the deadly swamp.

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.

Some parts of the swamp are deep, and drug traffickers have marked risky areas, with signs noticeable on visiting the swamp, which guides them on the safe passage.

“Following strengthened awareness, it has increased the flow of information on dealers from the people especially those residing on the bordelines. Many drug dealers are known and majority have been arrested,” CIP Twizeyimana said, commending the role of the public in fighting the vice.

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 awareness seeks to kill the local market by preventing new abusers, rehabilitating the addicts, and bringing all groups on board to break chains of supply.

Meanwhile, other two motorcyclists were intercepted in Rukomo Sector, Nyagatare District transporting assorted contrabands and cannabis.

The motorcycles were impounded to Nyagatare Police station, Chief Inspector of Police ( CIP ) Theobald Kanamugire, the police spokesperson for the Eastern Province,  said.

Two other drug dealers were apprehended in Kamembe Sector of Rusizi District with varied quantities of cannabis.

Meanwhile, in Rubavu District,  a tip-off from a commercial motorcyclist led to the arrest of the passenger he was transpprting, who had about 7kgs of cannabis concealed in his luggage.