Detectives in Busia County have arrested a public service vehicle driver after recovering 20 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa from a vehicle intercepted along the Busia–Kisumu Road.
The arrest followed a tip-off that prompted police officers from Bumala Police Station to intercept the PSV, registration number KCP 022H, as it travelled along the busy highway.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), officers searched the vehicle’s boot and recovered a green sack and a black bag containing the suspected narcotic drugs.
The drugs weighed a total of 20 kilogrammes.
Further investigations by detectives from the National Anti-Narcotics Investigations Bureau (NANIB) in Busia established that the consignment was not passenger luggage, raising suspicions that it was being transported as part of a drug trafficking operation.
Police subsequently arrested the vehicle’s driver, identified as 39-year-old Stephen Otieno Jumbo, alias Barry.
The DCI said investigations established that Jumbo was allegedly involved in the transportation of the narcotics and was working jointly with the vehicle’s conductor, Patrick Omondi.
Omondi, however, fled the scene during the arrests, prompting detectives to launch a manhunt for him.
“Detectives have intensified efforts to trace and apprehend him,” the DCI said.
The driver remains in police custody as detectives complete investigations and process him for arraignment.