Police Battle Cross-Border Dagga Smuggling
Pini Bothoko | Monday August 17, 2020 16:58
For a while, police stations along the Botswana-South Africa borders have been battling to contain the rising cases of dagga smuggling.
Law enforcement officers at Goodhope last Thursday arrested two Batswana men, aged 31 and 34, for being in possession of seven bags of dagga allegedly brought into the country illegally from South Africa.
Goodhope Police Station commander, superintendent Mogomotsi Kwapa told The Monitor the duo was arrested at Metlojane on their way to Gaborone with bags of marijuana.
Kwapa said the two are currently being held in police custody while investigations into the matter were ongoing.
“The bags were found in one of the vehicles that was used by one of the suspects. They also had in their possession money amounting to P32,000, which they failed to account for when interrogated by the police,” Kwapa explained.
He added the seven bags were estimated to weigh 120kg with a street value of P318,000. He bemoaned that together with the Ramatlabama Police Station they are unable to keep up with the rising drug smuggling incidents from the neighbouring country.
“Recently, we arrested men in possession of 242 rolls of dagga suspected to have also been smuggled in from South Africa.
Even Ramatlabama police also had a similar case recently in which people were arrested in possession of large quantities of marijuana,” Kwapa said.
“It is of great concern the country is battling with COVID-19, but drug mules continue to find their way to smuggle drugs into the country. This is the third case so far in which people were arrested with large quantities of dagga.”
He said the large quantities of drugs that continue to be seized from the suspects suggest that the police might be dealing with drug dealers. Kwapa said the trend shows that many Batswana have turned drugs smuggling into a business.
“We continue to arrest and charge Batswana, but it looks like it is difficult for them to desist from smuggling drugs.
Drug markets still exist and demand and supply is still high. This shows that we still have a long way to go because police figures show that drug syndicates continue to invade the country. However, we will continue working hard to lessen trading in illicit drugs in the country,” Kwapa added.
The police have established that some locals have connections with South Africans or people from the other side of the border. These people are said to transport drugs to the borderline where they meet with Batswana to exchange the drugs that are then smuggled into Botswana. BPS deputy commissioner, Dinah Marathe is concerned about the rising drug usage during coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns. Marathe said it appears majorities of people have replaced alcohol with drug use and abuse since the alcohol sale ban.