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Duale calls for crackdown to stop drug abuse in Garissa Town

Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale addresses religious leaders and students during a graduation ceremony at Madrasa Khadija Bint Khuwaylid in Garissa Town Constituency on February 25, 2024. (Photo: Aden Duale)

By Issa Hussein | 25 Feb 2024

The Defence minister asked religious leaders to cooperate with Interior ministry officials, and county and regional heads in the fight.

Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Sunday called for a crackdown against drug and substance abuse and trafficking in Garissa Town, noting the area has become a conduit in the trade.

Duale asked religious leaders to cooperate with Interior ministry officials, and county and regional heads in the fight.

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"Garissa is now a conduit for bhang smuggled from Ethiopia to Nairobi, resulting in high consumption of the drug among the youth," he said during a graduation ceremony at Madrasa Khadija Bint Khuwaylid in Garissa Town Constituency.

The minister promised to organise a meeting next week of religious leaders and security committee heads, at both the county and regional levels, to plan the crackdown.

He also urged parents to join the fight and hailed the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) for the crackdown against shisha in Nairobi, which saw many arrested last December.

Garissa Township MP Dekow Barrow noted that drug abuse remains a challenge among the youth, whose lives he warned are getting destroyed.

"We will join efforts to rehabilitate those already involved in drug abuse and deal with peddlers with the help of security officials," he said.

Two weeks ago, the anti-narcotics and operation support units of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) seized more than 130 bales of bhang after intercepting a truck transporting them on Garissa-Thika Road in the Kyanunda area of Mwingi.

Driver Daniel Yohana and co-driver Ismail Wako were arrested.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki recently met North Eastern security heads in Wajir town and called for a crackdown against traffickers smuggling drugs from neighbouring Ethiopia to Kenya.