Another error? DCI reports confiscating 12 sacks of bhang from hearse, instead of 14
On August 29, 2023, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations reported it had intercepted a hearse transporting marijuana to Kisumu City.
“In the bizarre incident that stunned police officers manning a roadblock at Suo in Busia County, the product had been neatly arranged in the vehicle that is ordinarily used in the conveyance of the dead to the grave. According to the officers, they had flagged down a white Nissan van branded Rafiki Funeral Services-Othaya, for routine check up at around 7pm. The heavily tinted vehicle whose stereo was playing somber tunes associated with escorting the departed, pulled over. As the vehicles’ driver, Hussein Otita, hesitantly lowered his window and muttered some words after responding to the officer’s greetings, the policeman detected some smell from inside the vehicle that was not related to human remains,” said the DCI in their statement.
It was then that the police say they discovered 12 sacks of marijuana arranged on the seats and floor of the van.
Nairobi News looked over the evidence publicized by the DCI and noted that instead of the aforementioned 12 sacks, there were actually 14 sacks lined up on the ground outside a police station. This begs the question, where are the other two sacks of marijuana?
On August 16, 2023, the DCI and the National Police were also caught in a blunder when both institutions issued statements regarding the arrest of a wealthy marijuana seller infamously known as ‘Mathe wa Ngara’ (the woman from Ngara). It later turned out that they arrested the wrong woman, Teresia Wanjiru, 54, but would later find the real Mathe Wa Ngara, Nancy Kigunzu, and arrested her.
However, at issue was the amount of money both institutions reported having recovered from Mathe wa Ngara’s hideout. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations reported that 13.474,520 million had been recovered from the hideout while the National Police Service reported that the amount recovered was Sh 12,875,000. This prompted questions from the public over who was giving the correct figures and if the institutions stood by their figures, where was the missing Sh 599,520?
This revealed the breakdown in communication between the law enforcement agencies and what they publicized.
In her recent appearance in court, Ms Kigunzu, through her lawyers, inquired about the whereabouts of the money seized by the police during the raid.
“The money was recovered from the respondent (Nancy), and the state needs to convey to the respondent the issue of where that money is. You gave express orders that the money be deposited at the Central Bank. The money is an exhibit if at all the respondent will be charged,” Kigunzu’s lawyer, Dunstan Omari, stated.
The prosecution replied by saying, “We have documentation showing the chain of custody. The total amount of money deposited at the Central Bank is 13,474,520 shillings.”
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