Kenya destroys 328 tons of Mount Kenya cannabis in February 2001
Kenyan law enforcement officers destroyed more than 328 tons of cannabis grown in the Mount Kenya area in February 2001. A later UN review counted 461 tons destroyed in the targeted 2001 and 2002 raids combined.
In February 2001 Kenyan law enforcement officers destroyed more than 328 tons
of cannabis grown in the area of Mount Kenya.[1]A later United Nations
review described the 2001 and 2002 operations as highly publicized, successful
targeted raids on 14 farms around the mountain, which together destroyed 461
tons of cannabis.[2]
Plantations inside the forest belt
Fairly large-scale cannabis cultivation took place in the central highlands
around Mount Kenya, with as much as 1,500 hectares estimated in the area.[2]Some grew in the lower farmlands concealed among traditional crops, and smaller
plots lay higher up in areas regarded as national wildlife reserve.[2]Despite
the 2001 and 2002 raids, police noted that cultivation had increased again when
they ran targeted raids in 2004.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
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.
