2 suspects arrested in anti-shisha raid at a bar along Mirema Drive

Source: Capital FM Kenya
Author: Amukohe Yvonne

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 20 - A multi-agency security team comprising police units and the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has arrested two suspects in a joint operation targeting shisha-selling bars.

The Tuesday operation supported by general duty police officers and agents from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) resulted in the seizure of assorted paraphernalia used in dispensing shisha.

"The operation focused on ALFAKHER LOUNGE along Mirema Drive in Kasarani and two suspects, namely Patricia Wanza and Asmelder Wambui, were arrested and are currently in custody," NACADA stated.

During the operation which began around 10:30pm and lasted until 2:00am, authorities seized 109 shisha bongs, various shisha flavors including 50 pieces of 50-gram alfakher gums (gum shisha) with mint flavor.

Additionally, the team seized 170 pieces of al-sultan flavors each weighing 59 grams, 400 pieces of coconut charcoal, 16 charcoal carriers, and other assorted components used in preparing shisha.

The arrest followed a similar raid on Nairobi's Club Beirut on March 2 where NACADA arrested four suspects.

The NACADA-led team nabbed 5 shisha pots and 24 packets of assorted flavors at the time.

Kenya implemented a full-scale shisha ban in 2017 after a 3-year prohibition following findings of a joint report by the Ministry of Health and NACADA that reported traces of bhang, heroin, and cocaine in nineteen shisha flavours.

The 2014 investigation revealed 79.2 per cent of shisha samples tested contained heroin.

Interior Secretary Kithure Kindiki has vowed an unrelenting war on prohibited substances and illicit liquor ordering the implementation of a 25-point marshal plan on March 6.