Police officers have uprooted bhang worth an estimated Ksh.60 million from a three-acre plantation along the Tana River in Mwingi Central, Kitui County.
The operation was conducted in Kakongo Village, Kairungu Location, in Kiomo Kyethani Ward, following intelligence on suspected large-scale cultivation of the illegal crop.
Officers from the National Police Service and National Government Administration Officers raided the plantation, where bhang had been planted alongside food crops in an apparent attempt to conceal it.
With the assistance of members of the public, the officers uprooted the crop and transported it to Mwingi Police Station, where it was weighed at approximately two tonnes.
The operation also led to the recovery of seven solar panels, five petrol-powered water pumps, six jembes, four pangas, two weighing scales, two fork jembes, two hacksaws, a solar control unit, assorted solar accessories and 30 kilogrammes of CAN fertiliser, among other equipment.
Personal documents suspected to belong to the cultivators were also recovered at the scene.
The suspected cultivators, however, escaped before they could be arrested.
Detectives from the National Anti-Narcotics Investigations Bureau are pursuing leads to identify and apprehend those behind the large-scale cultivation and establish possible links to a wider narcotics network.
