At a tender age of 21, Emmanuel Dushimirimana was already beat and spent out after living years of drug abuse and trafficking in narcotics. 

During the ‘dark’ years, the resident of Nyankurazi of Kigarama Sector in Kirehe District had several brushes with the law, being arrested several. 

Tired of the life he was leading, Dushimirimana made a conscious decision to quit and seek rehabilitation.

Giving his testimony in Kirehe as he campaigned against sale and use of illicit drugs, Dushimirimana said he used to spend money trafficking in drugs but that Police would seize them.

"The money was always blown away just like that,” he said shortly after a public exercise to destroy more than 1,000 kilogrammes of cannabis, 715 litres of kanyanga, a banned crude gin, and over 1,200 pieces of plastic bags.

The illicit items were seized from dealers in Police operations conducted in the last three months in Kirehe.

Dushimirimana, who quit the illegal business about three months ago, advised the youth to venture into legal income-generating activities rather than taking the "impossible path of doing business.”

For the past three months, Dushimirimana has been running a small shop he started after abandoning dealing in drugs, which he said has grown from Rwf50,000 to a share worth of Rwf200,000.

Kirehe District Police Commander James Rutaremara lauded the role the residents played to seize the destroyed substances, and arrest of suspects.

He appealed to them to strengthen collaboration and timely information exchange about drug dealers and other individuals that could be involved in criminal activities.

Bernard Tugume, the director of good governance in Kirehe, also appealed to the residents to be central in breaking the drug supply chain.

With Kirehe marked as the major route for drug traffickers, the reinforced operations and awareness campaigns have seen drug related crimes reducing in the district.

At least 74 per cent of narcotics trafficked into the country pass through Kirehe. Last year, about 1.6 tonnes of cannabis and over 183 litres of Kanyanga seized in the district, were also destroyed.

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