Narcotic drugs being sold to children as cookies - police
Deputy Inspector General of Police Sabiiti Muzeeyi burns narcotic drugs at Nsambya Police Station in Kampala on Tuesday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
Police have detected a new way in which drug cartels supply narcotic drugs to children in schools by preparing it as an ingredient in cookies and later sell them to students.
Ms Grace Akullo, the director of Criminal Investigations Department (CID), said the new method of selling narcotic drugs to children is hard for their officers to detect.
“Most of the perpetrators of the drugs now prepare cookies spiced with narcotic drugs and sell to our children in schools and institutions of higher learning, which makes it hard for detectives to notice the distribution,” Ms Akullo said on Tuesday.
Police also destroyed 105.07kg of narcotic drugs valued at Shs3.7b that had been seized at Entebbe International Airport since April. The drugs included heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis. The destruction of the narcotic drugs was witnessed by the deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Stephen Sabiiti Muzeeyi, at Nsambya police barracks in Kampala.
Ms Akullo said they are receiving several cases of children dropping out of school after spending the fees on narcotic drugs.
Maj Gen Sabiiti said with the new forensic centre and technologies, their effort will help to solve many of the challenges in detecting and prosecuting suspects.
He also said the CID should focus on tracing people who give narcotic drugs concealed in luggage to couriers, who are often Ugandans, to transport them to other countries.
Many Ugandans are caught up in the illicit trade and consumption of drugs.
The new law, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 2015, gives harsher penalties to offenders and drug pushers.
The NDPS Act 2015 states: “a person, who traffics in a narcotic drug of psychotropic substance, commits an offence and is liable in respect of the narcotic drugs or psychotropic substance to a fine not less than five hundred currency points or three times the market value of the narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, whichever is greater, and in addition, to imprisonment for life.”
But offenders have not been given harsh sentences because they are said to be victims or couriers.
The Chief Magistrate of Entebbe, Ms Mary Babirye, said drug lords are now taking advantage of people as they look for jobs abroad.
“It is the reason why we don’t give the toughest sentences to some of those convicts because they are just victims. You should also look for the others, who give drugs to these people,” Ms Babirye said.
