BUSTED!… Prisoner caught smuggling drugs

Lorraine Mathe

IN a groundbreaking case that is likely to expose the smuggling of illicit drugs into prisons, a 24-year-old male inmate at Khami Remand Prison has been arrested after he was busted trying to smuggle 15 sachets of dagga which he was hiding in his pants.

Sydney Ncube from Jambezi area under Chief Shana appeared before Western Commonage court magistrate Shepherd Mjanja.

He pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of dangerous drugs as defined in Section 157 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.

He was remanded in custody for sentencing.

It was the State’s case that on 11 January and at around 12pm, Ncube who is serving at Khami Remand Prison as a Class B inmate, was coming from his routine duties at the prison.

After he was done and upon arrival at the gate, the prison officer who was on duty conducted a body search on him and discovered that he was hiding something in his pants.

A thorough search was conducted inside Ncube’s pants and 15 sachets of dagga were recovered which led to his arrest.
On 13 April, Ncube was handed over to the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Drugs and Narcotics Bulawayo for further management.

The recovered dagga was taken to Bulawayo Post Office where it weighed 34 grammes with a street value of $34 000.
When the court asked where he got dagga from he said he picked it up from the garden where he was assigned to work in.
When the magistrate asked what he wanted to do with the dagga he said he wanted to smoke it.

Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa is on record saying harmful drugs and substances will not be allowed to proliferat­e in Zimbabwe with Government having scaled up the fight against the scourge and scores of drug lords, peddlers and abusers have since been arrested in an operation code-named “No to dangerous drugs and illicit substances”.