The driver and conductor of a passenger bus fled after officers found cocaine worth more than Sh2 million on board at the Malaba One-Stop Border Post on the Kenya–Uganda border.

The bus was travelling from Kampala to Nairobi. TV47 Digital identified it as a Simba Coach bus.

Unattended parcel

Officers screening passengers and luggage during routine checks found an unattended parcel on the bus. They examined it further and handed it to detectives from the National Anti-Narcotics Investigations Bureau (NANIB).

Preliminary tests confirmed it contained cocaine "packaged in eight pellets weighing 547.99 grams", the DCI said. The drugs have an estimated street value of Sh2,191,960.

Crew vanish

As officers moved in to examine the package, the driver and conductor fled, leaving the bus and its passengers behind. Police arrested the bus turn boy in connection with the suspected trafficking. The driver and conductor are still at large.

The bus is being held at Malaba. The company arranged other transport for the stranded passengers.

Investigation

Detectives are trying to establish how the cocaine was loaded onto the bus, who was involved, where it came from and where it was going. The DCI said NANIB "remains steadfast in its war against narcotics trafficking."

Wider crackdown

The seizure came a day after a DCI operation in Kisii, Kitui and Kajiado counties led to four arrests and the seizure of bhang and other narcotics.

Photos: TV47 Digital