24 learners arrested at drinking den held

Students to be arraigned in court, says officer.

Police have arrested 24 pupils and students found at a drinking binge.

The learners aged between 13 and 23 and scantily dressed were also found drunk and disorderly at a river bank near Dembwa trading centre on the Mwatate-Wundanyi road.

According Mwatate OCPD Monica Kimani, the students from different schools were smoking bhang and cigarettes, chewing muguka (form of khat leaves), taking alcohol and engaging in immorality.

Ms Kimani said the police acted on a tip off from the public and raided the area where they rounded up the students.

“The girls were wearing provocative dresses and we found some of them in a compromising situation,” said Ms Kimani, noting eight girls and 16 boys were arrested.

Kimani said the students would be arraigned once investigations were complete.

Protect children

“We cannot allow such behaviors to continue happening in the area. Parents should ensure they protect their children during school holidays, especially during this Christmas and New Year festive season,” she said.

The officer said the students’ parents thronged Mwatate Police Station to have them released, but in vain.

“We are closely working with chiefs and their assistants, elders, Nyumba Kumi and members of the community policing to eradicate crime during the December holidays,” added the police officer.

This year, police also rounded up scores of students who were drunk and disorderly in a bar in Taveta border town. Out of 89 students arrested, 56 were charged in a Taveta court.

The learners, some of them minors, were arrested at the populous Vet­eran Club in Taveta border town and charged before the Taveta Res­i­dent Mag­is­trate Geof­frey Kimang’a.

Also arraigned was the manager of the club, Silas Ovoringwa.

Meanwhile, residents claimed they had been been complaining about some dishonest bar operators permitting children in their premises.