National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) officers in collaboration with police officers from Nairobi’s Eastlands area on Saturday, March 2, conducted a raid on Quiver Eastlands club located along the Kangudo Road.
In a statement on Sunday, NACADA confirmed that its team managed to seize 18 shisha bongs and assorted flavors from the club as part of its campaign to enforce the ban on shisha smoking.
At the same time, the police officers involved in the exercise arrested two individuals for the offence of selling shisha in contravention of legal notice 292 of 2017.
“Last night the Authority carried out a shisha prohibition enforcement exercise and our enforcement team visited Quiver Eastlands where 18 shisha bongs and assorted flavors and shisha preparation paraphernalia were seized,” the statement read.
The operation took place on Saturday night when night clubs in the city are usually full to the brim.
The shisha bongs and other paraphernalia used in shisha business were all taken as exhibits by the police officers leading the operation.
Later in the night, NACADA acted on information that revelers at Habanos Lounge were smoking Shisha and raided the club within Nairobi’s Muthaiga area.
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In the raid that took place at around 1 am on Sunday, police seized some 60 shisha bongs,126 pieces of assorted flavors, and assorted paraphernalia used in shisha preparation.
Seven people were also arrested at Habanos, including the manager, sellers, and users.
NACADA to Target Apartments
All those arrested, according to NACADA, were detained at the Jogoo Road Police Station and will be arraigned in court to be charged with various offenses related to section 3 and 4 of shisha rules.
According to the officer leading the operation, NACADA is also looking to expand its dragnet in a bid to arrest people shifting to smoking the outlawed drug inside apartments.
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Speaking after the exercise, the officer warned members of the public against using shisha pots, noting that they are at times used as a decoy to smoke hard drugs including bhang.
“Shisha smoking has now moved from the consumption within clubs or lounges to apartments, so we ask the public to share information so that we act on a timely basis,” the officer stated while insisting that government agencies would reign in on drug abuse.
The arrests added to a string of people arrested in night clubs in Nairobi and other towns in the country.
In 2018, the Kenyan government through the Ministry of Health banned Shisha smoking in the country in line with findings by the World Health Organization stating that smoking shisha posed grave health risks as shisha smokers in a single session would inhale smoke of 100 or more cigarettes.
