Ol Kalou residents torch house of suspected bhang peddler

 

Residents of Canaan Estate in Ol Kalou town, Nyandarua county on Sunday evening burned down the house of a suspected drug peddler.

They said the suspect had been selling bhang to their schoolchildren aged between 13 and 25.

Estate chairman James Ng’ang’a said the move was taken after authorities failed to act, despite numerous complaints previously lodged with them — a claim the police rejected. The culprit has been operating with impunity and is always released if arrested, he said.

Ng’ang’a said children steal their parents' belongings and chickens and take to the suspect in exchange for bhang. “A mature cock is equivalent to a week’s supply of bhang."

Ng’ang’a said on Sunday evening parents who had found their children with the drug informed him. They mobilised residents and the children led them to the house where the suspect lived with his second wife. But upon noticing them approaching, he fled carrying a bag. 

Residents vented their anger on the house, bringing it down before setting it ablaze. “I tried to refrain them but they could hear none of it,” Ng'ang'a said.

He said many other items believed to have been stolen, including barbed wire, pieces of metal from the railway line, and metallic beams used to construct greenhouses at local flower farms were found in the house.

Secretary Agnes Gichuhi said both boys and girls have been flocking to the house to get the drug. She said the suspect has in the past been sent away from other areas, including Huruma slums, Kwa Wilson village and Quarry village where his first wife lives.

She said Canaan residents do not want him on the estate as his continued stay means the destruction of children whom he had introduced to drugs at a very tender age.

Nyandarua Central subcounty police commander Abdullahi Dahir confirmed that the suspect is a known drug dealer who is out on bond having been previously charged in court with a similar offence.

The police boss said they had not been informed that he had relocated his business to the estate and added that they had no prior knowledge of the residents' intent to lynch the suspect.

“Had they informed us, we would have arrested and taken him back to court. But now they have destroyed property. We did not find the suspect here and have not recovered any bhang,” he said.

Dahir said investigations were underway to find and arrest those who demolished and torched the house, warning residents against taking the law into their own hands.

“Mistakes do occur and the best thing to do is to report to police in time. Taking the law into one's own hands does not help anyone,” he said.