A primary school head-teacher was on Wednesday arrested in Karongi District with 6,168 pellets of cannabis. Serge Ntagara, 38, the Director of Bugarura Primary School in Rutsiro District, was intercepted in Gisanze Cell of Rubengera Sector in Karongi trafficking the narcotics on a motorcycle, police said. “He had concealed the pellets in a sack and covered them with beans, maize and sorghum grains in an attempt to beat security,” Chief Inspector of Police Innocent Gasasira, the Western region police spokesperson, said. CIP Gasasira said the “arrest was made by the Anti-Narcotics Unit after a member of the community informed law enforcers that Ntagara had been seen hiding the drugs in the bag before packing it with beans and other farm produce.” “Police laid an impromptu roadblock after getting the information on the suspect, including the motorcycle he was riding. He was arrested on arrival, the drugs seized, motorcycle impounded and taken to Rubengera Police station where he is detained,” said Gasasira. The spokesperson wondered why an educator, who is expected to be the mentor for current and future generations would indulge in such criminal conduct. One of the parents who has children at Bugarura Primary School expressed his disappointment over the head-teacher. “The penalty for possessing drugs by people entrusted to educate our children should be severe enough to make them not do it again or even serve as an example to other educators,” noted one irritated parent said. He wondered if Ntagara wasn’t using school children to sell the drugs or even to use them, and called for detailed background checks for school administrators before jobs are offered. “Growing, making, selling, transforming, transporting, storing and consumption of narcotic drugs and illicit substance are prohibited and punishable by law in Rwanda,” Gasasira warned. Article 594 of the Rwandan penal code, stipulates that, any person who, unlawfully, makes, transforms, imports, or sells narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances within the country, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of up to Rwf5 million. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
