Police have arrested a suspect linked to a spate of robberies and drug dealing in Nyeri town.

According to Nyeri County Police Commander Adiel Nyange, the suspect is a Master’s degree student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

He was arrested following a Tuesday raid in one of his hideouts at Karia Dam outside Nyeri town. The police boss said the Information Technology graduate learner was found with more than 40 kilogrammes of marijuana, two stolen motorcycles and illicit brew.

“We ambushed him at the dam where he was expecting to meet a supplier of the drugs. As soon as he saw us he dived into the dam and dumped the drugs. But our officers pursued and managed to apprehend him and recover the drugs from the water,” Mr Nyange said.

The cops also discovered the suspect’s two other hideouts in Asian Quarters and Kamakwa estates where more drugs and more than Sh55,000 believed to be proceeds of drug dealing were recovered.

At the Asian Quarters hideout, detectives recovered a consignment of marijuana and 300 litres of illicit brew.

The suspect is also said to have rented two houses, one for Sh15,000 per month and the other Sh8,500.

“He has been using the houses to brew the illicit alcohol and as a distribution point for drugs. The young man is a Master’s student as far as his family knows but in Nyeri he is a thug,” the police boss said.

The suspect was also caught with a bunch of keys believed to be used to break into people’s homes.

The day-long operation also nabbed two other suspects and a total of five motorcycles believed to have been stolen and used in robberies.

The suspects are being held to assist in further investigations.