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Kinyarwanda
Rwanda National Police (RNP) has disposed of assorted narcotic drugs, including 348kgs of cannabis, which were seized from dealers in separate operations conducted in Nyarugenge and Kicukiro districts.
The public destruction exercise held on Friday, January 29, at Nduba landfill in Gasabo District was witnessed by the Police and prosecution officials.
The disposed of narcotics also include 300 grams of heroin as well as kanyanga, which is also classified as "simple drugs" and banned in Rwanda.
Heroine, also locally known as mugo, and cannabis are classified as "very severe drugs" under the Ministerial Order No.001/MoH/2019 of 04/03/2019 establishing the list of narcotic drugs and their categorisation.
RNP deputy spokesperson, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Africa Sendahangarwa Apollo said the narcotics were seized in separate Police operations conducted in the last two years (2019 and 2020) from major dealers, who were mainly operating in Kicukiro and Nyarugenge districts.
He attributed the success operations to the "strong partnership and ownership" between the Police and public through information sharing.
"This is the impact of community policing; the partnership between the Police, local leaders, the general public and other partners in security and justice sectors," said CSP Africa.
He warned of continued operations especially targeting to break supply chains.
"We are aware and mapped out the major trafficking routes used by drug dealers. The majority of narcotics are sneaked into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo through porous borders in the Western Province, especially in Rubavu District before they are trafficked to other parts of the country including here in Kigali," CSP Africa said.
The deputy spokesperson said the majority of those arrested with the disposed of narcotic drugs are the young people.
He advised the youth to put their focus on better and legal businesses rather than wasting their lives in drugs.
"You will not find anything good in drugs apart from spending many years in prison and poisoning people who consume these narcotics," CSP Africa said.
Health implications
Medical experts say that some cases of heart, liver, kidney and mental problems have been attributed to abuse of narcotic drugs.
Legal implication
According to prosecution, 210 cases related to drugs were registered in Nyarugenge and Kicukiro districts in 2019 and 2020, with the majority of those arrested in these crimes either serving their varies sentences or still undergoing court proceedings.
Under article 263 of the law determining offences and penalties in general in Rwanda, anyone convicted for dealing in "very severe drugs" faces between 20 years and life in prison and a fine of up to Frw30 million.
In case of simple drugs, the sentence ranges between seven and ten years in prison and a fine of between Frw5 million and Frw10 million.
