Ice-cream vendor nabbed with heroin, cocaine in Pangani, Nairobi

A 34-year-old ice cream vendor was arrested while hawking sachets of cocaine, heroin and meth cathinone along the road in Nairobi’s Pangani area.

Police said the drugs had been concealed in an icebox as disguised as a vendor in the area.

Police said the suspect was also found in possession of a digital weighing machine, two unused needles, syringe, three lighters, a scientific calculator, two scalpels, surgical gloves and cotton wool.

Police say the suspect is among mules operating in Mathare area selling narcotics to locals. Authorities have also been seizing sachets of heroin in Mathare slums, Nairobi.

The seizure gives an indication there is a chain of supply of the drugs. It is not however clear how the drugs get there.

Police have in the past made such seizures but failed to make a follow up on the source to burst the web behind the supply.

Indications are that the main dealers or barons behind the drugs are powerful and monied and hide behind the mules who are usually arrested and later arraigned.

Drug abuse in Nairobi slums has become rampant and these narcotics are easily available.

Anti-drugs campaigners contend the narcotics have ruined many people’s lives in the city.

Last week, customs officials intercepted bhang disguised as herbal soap at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while destined for London.

The two kilogrammes of the narcotics were seized by sniffer dogs at the airport and had been packaged in 20 boxes each weighing 100 grams.

Officials at the airport said the narcotics had originated from Nakuru town. No arrest has been made so far.

Police are yet to know if more of such narcotics had been dispatched to the intended destination and if it is the first time the senders were sending the parcel.

Incidents of seizure of bhang have been on the rise in the recent days. The latest incident was in Nakuru where more than a tone of bhang was discovered welded in a fuel tanker after originating Ethiopia. It was the second such seizure in two weeks.

Police have failed to crack the question on who are the owners of the narcotics and trail the money accrued from the illegal business.