Online Reporter
By B-Metro Reporter
EVEN prison walls couldn’t cage their hustle!
Two inmates at Gwanda Prison have been busted running a drug and booze ring right under the noses of prison guards, trading dagga and cane spirit for porridge and sugar smuggled in by relatives.
Tiisetso Ngulube (56), serving time for assault, and Hloniphani Mkwananzi (42), doing time for illegal gold panning, were caught red-handed with 19 sachets of dagga and four bottles of cane spirit hidden in a bucket after working in the prison garden on 13 June.
Their supplier? None other than Etsang Mdlongwa (30) of Hampden Farm, who was promptly dragged before the Gwanda Magistrates’ Court after being fingered in the shady exchange.
A raid at Mdlongwa’s home unearthed dagga seeds, 22 bottles of cane spirit, the exact food items used in the deal, 4 packs of sugar and 3 packs of instant porridge and empty sachets matching those found on the inmates.
Street value of the stash, according to the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ), was ZIG $1 400.
Ngulube admitted guilt and was slapped with an extra 12 months behind bars. His two partners in crime pleaded not guilty and will face trial on 27 June.
Authorities say drug trafficking in prisons is a growing concern and warn that offenders will face the full wrath of the law.
Behind bars, but still dealing. Gwanda’s got a new meaning to hard time.
