Vihiga Boys High School students found with drugs after search with police dogs
The police on Wednesday morning seized illicit drugs and other substances from students at Vihiga Boys High School soon after they returned from their half-term break.
In a statement on social media, the police said the search was conducted by the Nyanza Region K-9 team.
Outgoing Board of Management chairman Shera Didi confirmed the shocking incident but said he was not in a position to divulge any more details as he was preparing to hand over to a new head.
The items seized included five rolls of bhang, unidentified yellow tablets concealed in the pages of an exercise book, packets of pancakes, cans of peanut butter, and baked soya beans.
The police said they were invited to search students at the school, which witnessed a spate of fires last year.
They said this is part of a new partnership between schools and the National Police Service.
“[The search] followed an invitation by the school principal in his efforts to enhance and complement the capacity of the school’s security personnel in screening [for] drugs, contraband and other dangerous instruments that could be smuggled into the school,” the police said in the statement.
The police said problem students had previously smuggled drugs and other contraband into schools.
“But on this day, after a physical search was completed, our four-legged ‘officers’ (dogs) joined the search under the command of the Deputy Nyanza Regional K-9 officer, Inspector of Police Ezekiel Njagi.”
Some of the items seized had been concealed in restricted food items but they could not pass beyond “our efficient and highly trained K-9 dogs”, the police said.
Members of the K-9 Police Unit can be found across counties and sub-counties.
In October last year, a dormitory at Vihiga Boys was gutted by a huge fire, leading to student protests over alleged highhandedness by school administrators.
It was said that students had been denied access to warm water but details about what caused the fire were not divulged.
The unrest continued, prompting school managers to close it down indefinitely and transferring the burden of rebuilding the dormitory to parents.
DMusalia@ke.nationmedia.com