Bang and Methanol Smuggling on the Rise in Migori

Migori,

Friday, October 27, 2023

KNA by George Agimba

Bhang and Methanol trafficking in Migori County is fueled by local consumption while nationwide organised crime gangs are turning the county into a transit hub because it is easy to maneuver.

Local drug watchdog bodies warned yesterday that policing of routes along the porous Kenya/Tanzania border had failed to reduce the volume of bhang and methanol being smuggled into the country through Migori County.

Mr. Phineas Onyango of Migori County anti-drug use society (MICADRUS) said that the volume of the two drugs passing through the county from Tanzania had continued to skyrocket within the region and other areas in Kenya and beyond the international borders.

Mr. Onyango in a statement estimated the volume of the smuggled bhang and methanol to have shot from 18 tons in 2015 to around 27 in 2022.

While a few indigenous people in Migori still dominate the illicit trade, external criminal gangs are increasingly taking over in the recent years.

Bhang farmers in Tanzania where the drug is not illegal confirm that their main market is Migori and Kenya and, will be out of this business if consumption will be stopped in Kenya.

MICADRUS office said consumption of bhang had increased tremendously among learners in education institutions within Migori similar to the uptake of methanol-derived spirits sold in the market.

However, the police within the region refuted these claims saying serious policing of both land and maritime routes had helped reduce drastically the volume of the two drugs transiting through Migori in the recent years.

 “We have successfully reduced the volume of bhang and methanol smuggled into the country from Tanzania in the recent years.”

 “Yes, we still have spontaneous cases of bhang smuggling but we are dealing with the criminals as required,” said a senior security agent who did not want his name quoted.

Courtesy; KNA