Police in Gatsibo District are holding a woman who attempted to traffic banned drugs using her baby as cover.

Passengers were last Friday left dazed after a driver of the vehicle they were traveling in caught a woman trafficking contrabands strapped at her back and covered with her six months’ baby, whom she also carried at the back.

The suspect used her baby as a cover to beat security and traffic 120 sachets of Zebra Waragi, a gin parked in plastic bags and banned in Rwanda.

She was identified by the driver of the travel agency, who notified the Police. The vehicle was en route to Kigali from Nyagatare.

Police spokesperson for the Eastern Province, Chief Inspector of Police Theobald Kanamugire, who commended the vigilance of the driver, said that the latter called the Police in Gatsibo after he got suspicious.

"He saw how the woman strapped the baby on her back, and got suspicious, especially that today women drug traffickers guise as mothers carrying a baby when actually they have drugs to make it look like a baby,” CIP Kanamugire said.

"The driver was midway between Nyagatare and Gatsibo, so he called Police in Gatsibo. He was told to stop in Kabarore, where officers searched the woman and found the 120 sachets of Zebra waragi strapped at her back together with her baby, and she was immediately arrested” he added.

He thanked the role that drivers continue to play in identifying and reporting drug traffickers.

Police has over time unearthed various tricks used by drug traffickers. These include wrapping drugs around their bodies, stashing them in luggage, pumpkins and bicycle tyres; women strapping them on the back guising them as babies; some put them in their veils; while others hire vehicles and motorcycles especially at night.

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