'Mchele dudes': Pubs in Eastlands caution patrons against trusting strangers

A number of pubs in Nairobi’s Eastlands area are increasingly putting their customers on alert over what they claim is a new trend of men spiking drinks in pubs.

The rise of ‘Pishori masters’ – men actively taking up the mantle from ‘mchele bebes’ – is causing major concern to bar operators.

Many bars have been forced to heighten security to ensure their patrons are safe whenever they are in their establishments.

A number of clubs have invested in CCV cameras – and safety ambassadors – whose job is to ensure patron safety while inside their establishments.

“You will find them smartly dressed, smelling of expensive perfume just to create a picture that they are stable business people. These ae the people who walk into pubs select their target, strike a friendship over time, then later spike their drinks, and steal from them,” said Mwihaki.

Mwihaki who works as a patron at a bar in Embakasi says there are instances where she has walked to patrons – and asked them to be careful with certain people sitting at their table.

She says that the rise in ‘mchele dudes’ is propelled by the fact that people have become suspicious of women in pubs, because they are known to spike men’s drinks.

This, she says, is the reason criminals are now changing tactics, and using men instead of women to propagate the crime.

“These criminals will conveniently befriend you over time, to the point you can trust them, even asking them to guard your drink as you go out to pee or make a phone call. That is when they will spike your drink, and then pretend to be taking you home to rest.

“Some of them will offer to buy you a drink to two, then you watch a football match together, even exchange contacts, and names,” cautions Mwihaki.

According to Mwihaki, they have received complaints especially from new patrons, claiming that a man they met at the pub had conned or spiked their dinks, and robbed them.

“Just do not trust everybody you meet at the pub, even if you support the same football team, when you have just met them,” she told Wananchi Reporting.

Reports indicate that some of the drugs used to spike drinks may be bought over the counter. The Poisons and Pharmacy Board (PPB), a body mandated to regulate the drugs, in 2022 told Citizen Digital that they had heightened surveillance with a view to getting to the root of the matter.

Meanwhile, Kenyans who visit clubs or pubs – especially now that football season is just about to kick in – should be careful especially when they are alone – enjoying a drink.

“You can tag along a fiend… but I see people preferring to take their drinks directly from the bottle,” says Mwihaki.

Others – she says – intentionally avoid taking the same drink from the same glass.