Two suspected drug smugglers from DR Congo shot dead by Rwanda border guards
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Two suspected drug smugglers were killed late Saturday by Rwandan security agents in Rubavu, a district in North Western Rwanda along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a senior local administrative official in the region confirmed Sunday to PANA in Kigali.
Rubavu district vice-mayor in charge of Economic affairs, Déogratias Nzabonimpa, said that upon being spotted on the Rwanda side of the border, the group of suspects who were crossing through porous entry points were shot dead in trying to disarm a security agent at Cyanzarwe, a village which has been in recent month the target of several attacks by armed groups from Eastern Democratic Republic of Cogo (DRC).
"Unfortunately, the border security agents shot back in accordance with self-defence regulations," Nzabonimpa said while urging local residents to refrain from using porous borders with neighboring DR Congo.
Several porous entry points on the border between Rwanda and DR Congo are notorious as a drug smuggling route. In September last year, Rwandan Police seized over 30kg of cannabis at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and arrested a woman after crossing from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.
Some narco experts say cannabis has become a major source of income for thousands of farmers in Eastern DRC in recent years. Although marijuana farming is illegal in DR Congo, the country may be producing more cannabis than almost any other African nation, they assert.
-0- PANA TWA/VAO 12Jan2020
