Three men arrested with four bags of marijuana
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday September 20, 2017 13:00
In an interview with Mmegi, Goodhope police station commander, Superintendent Mogomotsi Kwapa said late afternoon Monday that the police pulled over a Honda fit going north near Metlojane village in a roadblock after a tip-off that the car was transporting dagga.
“Armed with a tip-off, we mounted a roadblock near Metlojane village where we stopped the car, searched it and seized bags of something we suspect could be marijuana. Upon further inspection, the police discovered two big bags at the back seat. We went ahead to search the entire car and discovered yet another two big bags full of marijuana in the car boot,” Kwapa said.
He said amongst the four bags there were 146 sealed bundles of suspected marijuana with an estimated street value of almost P146,000. He said each pack is alleged to worth P1,000 in street value.
Kwapa stated that the three men were suspected to have been coming from South Africa heading to Gaborone.
“All of the three men aged 28, 31 and 32 are residents of Block 8 location in Gaborone. We suspect that they might be marijuana dealers at Gaborone and have illegally crossed into the country with their bags from South Africa at an un-gazetted entrance. It is alleged that most of people purchase marijuana from South Africa to trade it in Botswana,” Kwapa said.
He said that the three men have been charged with an offence of unlawful possession of dagga and will today appear before the Lobatse Magistrate Court. Kwapa raised a concern that they always arrest repeat offenders they suspect might be peddling drugs into the country.
“We have in the past arrested repeat offenders whom we suspect might be marijuana dealers. Cases of this nature are of concern in my policing area. From our intervention, we have in the past made excellent engagement with BURS and the Department of Immigration and made arrests, seized drugs at the border, but the problem is that such dealers use un-gazetted entry points,” Kwapa said.
Meanwhile, Kwapa disclosed that they are investigating a suicide case in which a 41-year-old man of Lejwana village committed suicide in his house on Monday afternoon.
Kwapa said that they received a report from the deceased’s family around 12.30pm on Monday. “The man, who had locked himself in his bedroom, used a wire to hang himself from his house’s rafters. We received a report that the deceased was discovered by his child through the window that was open coming from school after knocking for a long time without a response,” Kwapa said.
Kwapa said the deceased’s father told the police that he (the father) left the deceased’s home in the company of the deceased’s sister in the morning for work at Ipelegeng, and the deceased did not disclose any problem to the two, hence everyone is baffled as to what could have influenced his actions.
“The deceased did not leave any note explaining his awful actions. He was taken to the mortuary and later handed to his parents to process burial arrangements, as they did not want any postmortem to be carried out,” Kwapa said.