{Following strengthened community policing activities by residents of Burera District especially against drug trafficking, police says there has been tremendous progress in reporting and intercepting drug traffickers.}
In January this year, Burera residents and local leaders recommitted to intensify efforts towards fighting drug trafficking as means to bring an end to drug-related threats that affected their socio-economic development.
According to the Northern Region Police Spokesperson Inspector of Police (IP) Innocent Gasasira, since then, residents have worked so closely with the police in availing information about drug traffickers and helping in identifying routes used by traffickers.
One of the recent cases happened on June 20 where, acting on information provided by residents of Kagogo Sector, police seized 80 liters of Kanyanga and 510 dozens of Blue Sky – both banned gin blacklisted as narcotic drugs.
Burera being a border district has featured frequently among areas marked to have a bigger number of drugs and other illegal substances seized.
“The rate at which residents are sharing information is tremendous. This is clear proof that they stood by the commitment they made which is commendable,” said IP Gasasira.
“Drugs fuel the rate of criminal activity. Those who commit crimes such as domestic violence, robbery, rape among others are most of the time under the influence of drugs that’s why efforts to fight them must be intensified,” said the spokesperson.
Through strengthened community policing, he said, the groups that used to call themselves Abarembetsi, dealing in drugs has been dismantled.
He said that Police and local leaders in Burera have also been working with their counterparts in Uganda to fight cross-border crimes.
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