Police in Sirivi village Navakholo Constituency in Kakamega County were treated to drama as a young man who had planted marijuana in his compound dared police officers to uproot the plant with disrespect and run mad immediately.

The 28-year-old man treated police to a back and forth while threatening police that the ‘sacred’ plant has a special way of uprooting it and not just anyhow and that if they try to uproot it he was going to curse them.

The drama happened during a crackdown on identifying and recording names of farmers and people growing Cannabis Sativa in their compounds for domestic and commercial purposes.

According to Navakholo OCPD Richard Omanga they were tipped off by locals that the young man had grown marijuana in his compound and some around the house for domestic use.

“We reached the man's compound. He looked calm and composed and in fact, he welcomed us politely and we found that he had planted the substance in a small piece of land that he had fenced to keep off intruders,” said Omanga.

Furthermore, he directed police officers where he had grown the drug but warned the officers that the plant has respectable procedures for uprooting it and if it is done against the procedures, they would get cursed and run mad immediately.

“We were shocked that the young man confidently warned us against uprooting the drug stating there is a special way of doing it that involves special prayers and if not the stranger or intruder gets cursed by the owner and the plant and from his ‘gods’,” said Omanga.

Ignored threats

On Wednesday the OCPD told the Nairobian on the phone that after a moment of back and forth, they uprooted the drug and arrested the man despite his threats.

“The young man also told us that the substance gives him super energy that helps him to work efficiently and for long hours hence pledging a lot of respect for the drug, which he called ‘Sacred medicine ‘that needs special protection from destructors threatening my officers that in due time they will run mad,” said Omanga.

“We were shocked when he told us he cannot allow for his medicine that makes him energetic and work to earn a living to be destroyed and yet youths are being killed and spend time in jail for stealing and engaging in crimes due to unemployment and that is why he took an oath to protect the marijuana and to curse those who destroy or kill the plant.”

The OCPD said he is yet to see whether the suspect threatens to make him and his officers go mad for uprooting the marijuana without respect.

“He said in due time we will go mad, it is now two days my officers and I are still normal, he said the power of his ‘gods’ will punish us but for us, the man was speaking under the influence of the bhang and that is why we want to protect our youths from abusing drugs,” said Omanga.

The police boss said they are preparing to arraign the suspect in court tomorrow for growing the drug and being in possession of the outlawed drug substance.

This comes barely two weeks after security agencies in the Western region led by Western region police commander Kiprono Langat kicked off a drive to arrest farmers and people selling drugs for commercial and domestic purposes.

Marijuana crackdown

Langat told Nairobian that they have since arrested 200 people growing marijuana in their homes and farms stating that the crackdown is still ongoing until they weed out the substance.

“It is two weeks now since we kicked off the crackdown. So far we have taken more than 100 people to court and we have 20 in our custody whom we arrested on Tuesday. We are expecting to take them to court. We have recovered and destroyed a sizable number of marijuana and the crackdown continues,” said Langat.

He added that they will conduct a search and inspection at the entries of all schools in the region to arrest students who will be trying to take bhang to schools.

“The operation ‘enda shule and maliza mihadarati’ will be conducted as from the 22nd of this month in all schools to prevent drugs from getting their way to schools through learners so that we can avoid cases of indiscipline like arson in schools,” stated Langat.

Last week Western Region Prison Coordinator Martin Akwavi warned the drug addicts that they have enough space in their prisons to accommodate them, warning those who abuse drugs that they will be locked inside prison until their wives are taken and chewed by men who are sober and active.

The western region has been named to be leading in drug abuse in a survey conducted by National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) a month ago putting Western with 28 percent followed by Coast with 13.9 percent and Central Kenya third with 11.4 percent.