Police burn 1,720 kg of bhang exhibits at Lichota in Migori
Police in Migori County burned 1,720 kilograms of bhang at Lichota on 10 July 2019 after a court authorised destruction of exhibits whose cases were complete. County Commander Joseph Nthenge led the multisectoral exercise; the bhang had been seized across the county over the previous year.
Police in Migori County destroyed 1,720 kilograms of bhang at Lichota in Suna West after obtaining
a court order on 4 July 2019 covering exhibits whose cases were complete.[1]County Commander
Joseph Nthenge led the burning with security officials and officers from the environmental, public
health and judicial services.[1]
A year of seizures
The bhang had been seized by police across the county over the previous year, with Suna East and
Suna West accounting for 1,130 kilograms and smaller amounts from Nyatike, Kuria West and
Uriri.[1]Nthenge said most of the bhang reached Migori in transit from Tanzania’s Mara region,
and warned vehicle owners that hired-out cars caught carrying narcotics would be forfeited.[1]
Value confirmed later
A Kenya News Agency account two months later confirmed the same July destruction at Lichota,
valuing the burned bhang at Sh17.2 million.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Nyanza News prints the street value in garbled form ("Sh1,720,000 million"); the figure of Sh17.2 million comes from the Kenya News Agency's later retrospective of the same July destruction.
The reports do not name the defendants whose forfeited bhang was burned or list new arrests tied to the exercise.
Security officers uprooted a three-acre bhang plantation hidden among food crops in Kakongo Village, Mwingi Central, in an operation the DCI announced on 14 September 2026. The crop weighed 2,000 kg at Mwingi Police Station, where the DCI estimated its street value at Sh60 million; the cultivators fled and detectives were still looking for them.
Police and local administrators uprooted 1,327 cannabis plants intercropped with maize in Wakigunyi Village. The plantation owner escaped; the plants were booked as exhibits at Mbale Police Station while investigations continued.
On 1 August 2026 Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Ololua police uprooted an illegal cannabis farm in Kajiado County, seizing 78.98 kg of cannabis sativa in five sacks that the DCI valued at KSh 2.37 million. Officers arrested Joseph Leimyayan, 40, at the site.
Police raided a residence in the Romika area of Mwabungo village, Diani, on 1 September 2025 and found cannabis sativa being cultivated in the compound. Germans Heck Klaus Edmun and Wegener Geb Sikora, on tourist visas, and Kenyan Natasha Wangari were arrested; the scene was processed ahead of arraignment.
