The suspected cultivators of a three-acre bhang (cannabis) plantation in Mwingi Central fled before security officers could apprehend them.[1] The plantation lay in Kakongo Village, Kairungu Location, Kiomo Kyethani Ward, along the Tana River.[1] Police said the bhang had been planted among assorted food crops in an apparent attempt to conceal it.[1] Detectives from the National Anti-Narcotics Investigations Bureau were pursuing leads to establish who owned the plantation and to trace the wider network.[2]
The plantation covered about three acres, or 1.2 hectares.[1] Officers from the National Police Service and National Government Administration Officers, helped by members of the public, uprooted the crop and took it to Mwingi Police Station.[1] The crop weighed 2,000 kg there.[2] The Directorate of Criminal Investigations estimated its street value at Sh60 million.[2]
Officers also recovered seven solar panels, six jembes (hand hoes), four pangas (machetes), two weighing scales, two fork jembes, two hacksaws, a solar control unit, assorted solar accessories, five petrol-powered water-pump generators and 30 kg of CAN fertiliser.[1] Personal documents believed to belong to the cultivators were found at the scene.[2] The DCI said the solar equipment and water pumps pointed to an organised operation equipped to sustain the plantation.[2]