Chronicle Editor
Peter Matika, [email protected]
A 44-year-old Tanzanian national was arrested and brought to court for attempting to smuggle crystal meth worth about US$1 million.
The suspect, Suleiman Amour, was apprehended by the police while he was a passenger in a truck that was towing a trailer. Two accomplices of his, who are still on the run, were travelling with him.
Police discovered the crystal meth in lunch boxes concealed in false compartments of the trailer during a routine roadblock at the 18km peg along the Bulawayo-Plumtree Road.
Amour’s trial was scheduled to start before Western Commonage magistrate, Mr Vakai Douglas Chikwekwe, but was postponed due to a language barrier. As a result, the hearing has been postponed to November 8 to allow the State to secure a translator.
Amour was charged with possession of specially restricted substances and is in custody until he appears in court again. According to the prosecutor Mr Milton Moyo, Amour travelled to Zimbabwe through the Mozambique border and was transporting the drugs to South Africa.
Mr Moyo said preliminary tests conducted on the recovered samples confirmed that the substance was methamphetamine, and it weighed 192kg with a street value of US$987 000.
National police spokesperson, Commissioner Paul Nyathi, said Amour was arrested on October 23 at around 3pm by Nkulumane police.
He said police officers manning the roadblock stopped a truck with South African registration plates.
“The truck driver then instructed Amour to open the load box of a truck for police officers to conduct the searches and upon searching they discovered lunch boxes wrapped in plastics, which were in the load box and others were seen protruding from the upper compartment of the load box,” said Comm Nyathi.
He said the driver and the other suspect ran away after seeing that police had discovered their stash.
“ . . . officers tried to chase after them but only managed to apprehend Amour. Upon arrival at the station impound yard, the truck was thoroughly searched and a false compartment inside the container was discovered with the following items: 169 wrapped lunch boxes, 23 bags of beans, one bag of rice, a case of 24x330ml of Kambucha drinks, South African driver’s licence which belongs to Bekwa Omelelani and vehicle registration book of the impounded truck.”
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