Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
MORE than 28 drug dealers and peddlers have been arrested in separate incidents this month during the ongoing operation.
Some of them have since appeared in court and have been remanded in custody. Police have recovered various drugs and unregistered medicines.
In an interview, national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said, “The Zimbabwe Republic Police reiterates that there is no going back in the fight against drug trafficking and substance abuse, and warns that all individuals involved in the illegal production, transportation and distribution of drugs will be arrested and brought before the courts.”
Last week, police in Beitbridge intercepted a cross-border bus and arrested a passenger, Mathew Sakabvundura (42), who was found in possession of 11 cobs of mbanje.
Two other suspects, Simelinkosi Sibanda (40) and Thaboluhle Mpofu (37), were also arrested at S’khulu Village in Plumtree after they were found with 448 sachets of mbanje, which were stashed in a 20-litre bucket.
Police in Chegutu intercepted a truck at the 114-kilometre peg along Harare-Bulawayo Road and arrested a foreign national, Mkendwa Kibwana Hassani (33), for possession of 12 bales of mbanje weighing 130 kilogrammes with a street value of US$13 000.
In Beitbridge, police arrested Ndandatho Manyewu (48) at New Bridge along the Limpopo River and recovered 20 cobs of dagga weighing 17 kilogrammes, which were stashed in washing powder cardboard boxes.
Police also busted a drug peddling syndicate comprising 11 suspects, including both men and women, who were arrested while allegedly trafficking approximately 200 kilogrammes of dagga and other illicit substances.
The suspects were intercepted while travelling from Beitbridge, with the contraband cleverly packaged in a manner meant to resemble blankets in order to evade detection. During the operation, police also confiscated unregistered medicines found in the suspects’ possession.
Another suspect, Nuni Ngulube, was arrested in the Guyu area for cultivating 102 plants of mbanje within a maize field at a farm in Village 6, Kafusi.
At Beitbridge Border Post, two suspects, Wisdom Munyonga (37) and Tendai Gwainda (38) were arrested for unlawful possession of unregistered medicines while they were travelling in a Volvo FH truck.
Mtonga Fumu (44) and Dereck Lonje (43) were arrested at the border post for possession of unregistered medicines concealed in five coffins.
The suspects were travelling in a Toyota Hilux vehicle towing a trailer carrying five coffins containing corpses and various groceries.
Four more cross-border transporters were recently arrested for smuggling drugs worth US$25 000 through the Beitbridge Border Post using a coffin.
They allegedly used a fake burial order and an empty coffin to smuggle the drugs using a South African-registered white omnibus with a trailer.
Detectives stopped the suspects at the 110km peg along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway on March 6 at around 4 pm.
The vehicle and trailer had Clairmont Funeral Parlour stickers. The suspects allegedly produced a fake burial order, but the police proceeded to search the coffin.
Police recovered 2250×100ml bottles of Broncleer, 2400×100ml bottles of Bernylin syrup, 480×100 bottles of Astrapain cough syrup and 100×100 bottles of Salterpyn cough syrup.
