The quartet was arrested with combined 2,885 pellets of cannabis.

They include one Angelique Niyonsenga, 37, apprehended in Kabiza Village, Rugeshi Cell, Mukamira Sector of Nyabihu District with 995 pellets of cannabis.

The trio of Janvier Habiyambere, 43, (200 pellets), Gaspard Mugenga, 27, (700 pellets) and Alexis Habumugisha, 31, (990 pellets) were intercepted in Gatimba Village, Bugaragara Cell, Shyorongi Sector in Rulindo District.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Bonaventure Twizere Karekezi, the Police spokesperson for the Western region, said that Niyonsenga was arrested following a rip-off from a local resident.

“Police received information at about 4pm from a resident in Rugeshi about, Niyonsenga who was suspected to be trafficking drugs under the clothes she was wearing. Police swiftly conducted an operation and found the suspect at a bus station in Kabiza Village where he was waiting a vehicle. She was searched and found with 995 pellets of cannabis that she had wrapped around her waist and covered it with her clothes,” said CIP Karekezi.

Niyonsenga claimed that the narcotics belong to one she identified as Samuel Nsabiyumva. The alleged owner, Niyonsenga said, was supposed to pay her Rwf10,000 after delivering the narcotics to a client in Nyanza taxi-Park in Nyanza District.

Meanwhile, the three other suspected drug dealers intercepted in Shyorongi with 1,890 pellets of cannabis they headed to Kigali from Rubavu District in public vehicles, according to the District Police Commander for Rulindo, CIP Pacifique Gakwisi Semahame.

"They were arrested separately at a checkpoint, in three different buses. Janvier Habiyambere was arrested at 8am with 200 rolls of cannabis; Gaspard Mugenga arrested at 4pm with 700 rolls while Alexis Habumugisha, who had 990 pellets was arrested at about 5pm," CIP Semahame said.

At least nine suspected drug traffickers have been intercepted at Police checkpoints in Shyorongi since the beginning of this week, en route to Kigali from either Rubavu or Rusizi district.

This comes on heels of intensified operations targeting mainly those who traffic narcotic drugs and psychological substances into the country and local suppliers as means to break chains of supply.

Cannabis is listed as a very severe drug in Rwanda with a sentence ranging between 20 years and life imprisonment, and a fine of up to Rwf30 million.