Police in Migori county had a hard time keeping residents away from stealing bhang from a vehicle which had plunged into a ditch.
The officers acting on a tipoff trailed the white saloon car carrying bhang from Tanzania before a chase ensued just outside Migori town.
At around Oyani junction in Uriri subcounty, the vehicle veered off the road and plunged into a ditch. Witnesses said three suspects fled into nearby sugarcane plantation.
Members of the public who rushed at the scene to help were shocked to find several brooms of bhang littered around the scene and started carting them away.
During the Saturday evening incident a resident was arrested by police while others made away with several brooms.
“I was on a motorbike when the vehicle overtook me dangerously, about two kilometres ahead I found it overturned and there was nobody. It was raining and several people who came in started stealing the bhang,” Jared Ouma, a boda boda rider said.
He said soon more members of the public came in and started to steal the bhang , however police at Koigo Road block which is ahead were alerted and rushed to the scene.
“It seemed when the vehicle was not spotted in the next road bloc, the police chase van thought they had taken a rough road at Stella centre and veered off to continue with the chase,” Ouma said.
Jared Ooko, a resident said occupants of the saloon car were not hurt and fled the scene with a sack of bhang each leaving the rest for onlookers.
“I think the heavy rains delayed police arrival at the scene,” he said.
Police officers from Uriri police station cordoned the area before mounting search operations that recovered six sacks of bhang hidden by residents.
Uriri subcounty police commander Musa Kongoli said exact value of the drug is yet to be established.
“We are yet to evaluate the consignment and get the estimate value as my team is still on the ground. I will give finer details once we are done with investigations,” he said.
The Kisii-Isebania highway is notorious for drug trafficking with shrewd peddlers taking advantage of the porous border to sneak the commodity from neighbouring Tanzania.
Migori county police commander Mark Wanjala lauded members of the public who alerted the police.
“The operation was successful and I want to call upon members of the public to continue volunteering information. The county has for a long time been a conduit for illicit goods from neighbouring Tanzania and I hope through continued cooperation, we will scale down the cases,” he said.