dyton mupawaenda
Herald Correspondent
A Suspected drug dealer who appeared in court on Saturday after he was arrested while carrying cocaine valued $2,7 million has been denied bail.
Tonderai Musekiwa (50) was facing charges of dealing in dangerous drugs when he appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Ngoni Nduna.
In denying bail to the accused person Mr Nduna said there was a likelihood that Musekiwa would continue dealing in drugs if he is freed.
Mr Nduna said the State led by Deputy Prosecutor General Mr Micheal Reza managed to prove that Musekiwa was not a proper candidate for bail. Mr Reza had opposed bail arguing that the accused was likely to abscond and continue dealing in drugs.
He also submitted that drugs are harming the community and drugs dealers must be dealt with differently with those who buy them.
The matter was remanded to May 23.
Allegations are that on May 3 this year, at around 3pm, Detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics Harare received information to the effect that the accused person was supplying cocaine in greater Harare using a blue Mini Cooper vehicle with registration numbers AFV 7970.
On the same date at around 3:30pm, detectives spotted the said motor vehicle parked at new passport offices along Leopold Takawira Road in Harare.
It is alleged that detectives approached the motor vehicle where upon arrival they found the accused person seated behind the steering wheel.
The detectives introduced themselves and alerted the car occupant of their mission.
The accused person was searched and nothing was found on him.
Further searches were carried out in the vehicle leading to the recovery and seizure of one big sachet containing 410 tablets of suspected ecstasy under the passenger seat and 19 sachets of suspected cocaine from a fuel cap.
Musekiwa and his motor vehicle were taken to CID Drugs Harare for further management.
The accused person and the seized drugs were taken to Forensic Science Laboratory where the presumptive tests on suspected cocaine was carried out in the presence of accused person and tested positive to cocaine.
The suspected cocaine and ecstasy tablets were also weighed in the presence of accused person and recorded a weight of 18.1826 grammes and 134.64277 grammes respectively with estimated street values of $1,8 million and $902 000.
Online Reporter