Rwanda National Police

The cause against narcotic drugs in Rubavu District continue to reap big as joint efforts by Police, local leaders and the residents maintain the grip on drug dealers, Police said.

According to reports, about 1000 kilogrammes of cannabis have been seized in varied operations conducted between January and July, in Rubavu.

While addressing hundreds of students and residents, on August 29, at Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu town where the seized drugs were disposed of, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gilbert Gumira, the Deputy Director General for the National Rehabilitation Services (NRS) commended the “existing good partnership between public and security organs against psychotropic substances.”

The campaign against substances in Rubavu was launched in January this year during which over 420kgs of cannabis and about 2000 liters of illicit gin seized in a space of three months, were disposed of.

“These efforts have made significant impact on identifying dealers, tricks and routes used, and that’s how security efforts have been able to seize these substances and to arrest the dealers,” ACP Gumira told the gathering.

Through these joint efforts and information sharing, according to Gumira, tricks used by traffickers have been discovered. They include the deadly methods of swimming through lakes and rivers with drugs, collaboration with fishermen, stashing them in groceries like pumpkins, wearing them under clothes; using milk cans and packets, and faking pregnancies; hiring motorcyclists and vehicles that especially use the cover of the night, among others.

“Drugs have serious health effects to users; as young people you need to stay focused to your education dreams but equally importantly report anyone you suspect to be selling drugs,” ACP Gumira told the students.

Health experts say that drug use is one of the causes of heart, liver, kidney and mental illnesses.

Between 2010 and 2015, the Neuro-psychiatric Hospital of Ndera received 1,432 patients with mental illness caused by use of drugs, according to statistics from Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC).

The number increased to 2804 in 2016 but recorded a slight decrease to 1960 last year. Huye Isange Rehabilitation Centre received 209 cases, last year.

The Mayor of Rubavu, Gilbert Habyarimana, while speaking during the exercise to destroy the drugs on Wednesday, challenged the youth to also turn focus to legal profitable projects to improve their welfare and communities in general.

Rubavu alongside the districts of Burera, Gicumbi, Kirehe and Nyagatare are identified as some of the major transit routes for traffickers.