Popular drugs used in committing crime

On October 2 last year, police investigating the ownership of a lorry believed to have been stolen from Kenya were led by the suspects to Longonot where the decomposing body of Mr Alfred Chirchir was found.

Investigations by both Kenyan and Ugandan police established that the suspects had hired Mr Chirchir as a driver to transport sand from Mai Mahiu to Pangani sometime in August but, along the way, the lorry disappeared only to be found 42 days later in the neighbouring country.

Also found at the scene was a packet of Dormicum, a drug that Pharmacy and Poisons Board boss Kipkerich Koskei says should only be administered in a very controlled environment.

Yet this is one of the many drugs now being used by criminals on unsuspecting victims in order to rob them.

“All sedatives, hypnotics and barbiturates are supposed to be bought through prescription and every pharmacy is supposed to account for any gramme they dispense. However, what we are seeing is a parallel system which is part of a worldwide game.

“You could say the existence of illegal chemists is fuelling the crime but we also need to ask ourselves where those unregistered pharmacies are getting these drugs from because they are not manufactured in Kenya,” he says.

SUPREME COURT

One of the drugs that is in high supply in the criminal underworld to aid crime as established by the Nation is Midozalam, marketed locally as Dormicum, which was in June last year approved by the US Supreme Court to be used to administer the lethal injection.

Legally, the drug is used by surgeons when administering anesthesia to patients before surgery or in small quantities for managing seizures when prescribed by a doctor but its speed in knocking out victims has turned it into a weapon of choice by criminals.

So regulated is the environment for supply and administration of this drug that all pharmacies stocking it have to provide prescriptions used to purchase it for audit to the government. But, in the black market where the number of unregistered pharmacies probably outnumbers the licensed ones, getting such drugs is not as difficult.

On Tuesday the State is expected to present to court Patrick Kinyanjui Thuku, a driver belonging to Dakika Sacco, who was arrested after an incident in which a woman was robbed in a matatu he was driving near Kenyatta Hospital sparked countrywide outrage.

State lawyer Duncan Ondimu two weeks ago told the court that “the matter has elicited public interest, adding it has turned out to be a complex issue which requires all leads to be pursued.

SOMEONE'S MEMORY

But, apart from the fact that most of the drugs being used in crimes are undetectable in the system after a while, making it difficult for investigating authorities to establish if a victim was drugged, they wipe out someone’s memory on what happened.

“When they wake up, they won’t remember anything, how things were stolen from them or even how the criminal looked like,” one dealer who sells the drugs told the Nation.

Nairobi police boss Japheth Koome says they have received several similar reports.

“Most victims, however, keep quiet which makes it difficult to track down these criminals which would have been easier since the patterns appear to be the same,” he says.

Other popular drugs being used by criminals include Benzodiazepine, a tranquilliser that is usually prescribed for stress and which causes memory lapses, confusion and drowsiness.

Ketamine, a horse tranquilliser whose kick causes partial or total loss of memory and hallucinations, is also common, as is GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy.

There is also Scopolamine, a drug that was used by the CIA during interrogations in the 1960s to induce captives to give out vital secrets. It can be absorbed through the skin via a handshake and conmen have perfected its use to make their victim incoherent, according to the police.

WIDELY KNOWN

But while the use of Stilnox, Rophynol and Valium, which are purchased for as little as Sh100 per pill by prostitutes with criminal intentions has been widely known, it is the shift of drug assisted crime from bar halls to the streets that is giving the law enforcement system a reason to worry.

It is still not known what happened to the two women who were in the same matatu belonging to Dakika M. Sacco that Ms Karimi Mwari, who is the complainant in the case, raised in a Facebook post that sparked outrage.

Kenya’s chaotic public transport system has for a long time made it convenient for criminals to target their victims and it was only natural that the first case that received widespread publicity and condemnation was in a matatu.

What is shocking, however, is the possible collusion between crew and criminals to steal from commuters but Matatu Owners Association (MOA) Chief Executive Wambugu Kanoru says crime is everywhere and not only in the sector.

“As you board any licensed matatu across the country note down its registration, Sacco name and route. That way, you will help fight criminals and corruption because responsibility starts with you,” he says.