Step up war on trafficking

Driven by an apparently insatiable greed, drug traffickers will go to any length to continue profiting from their illicit trade.

Of course, they are aware that they risk arrest, prosecution and jail but the lure of quick riches is irresistible for many.

By ferrying and making these deadly substances available to gullible or addicted consumers, the traffickers continue to ruin lives. They are so callous and blinded by the pursuit for illegal gains that they have no scruples about becoming merchants of death.

Indeed, many most likely don’t give a thought to their role in supplying the substances that make their consumers vegetables.

It is for this reason that harsh sentences must be slapped on the culprits to scare away would-be offenders. We, therefore, commend the authorities for upping their game in the fight against drug trafficking. The narcotics business, especially bhang trafficking, is fed by home-grown substances and imports from neighbouring countries.

After being spirited across the borders, it is often transported by road to the major markets in the country.

The police officers deployed to mount checks on the highways deserve praise for often breaking up the smuggling rings by continually discovering the new tricks devised by the traffickers.

They have recently found out that the crooks are increasingly using nondescript private cars and even public service vehicles during the day in a bid to avoid detection and, hence, evade arrest.

In the past six months, for instance, bhang whose street value is estimated at Sh9 million, has been netted by police in two counties in the southwestern region alone, despite the traffickers sometimes using rough roads to evade police at roadblocks mounted on the major highways.

Intensify surveillance and checks to curb traffic trafficking.