RUNDU - Detectives in the Kavango Region last week made the biggest ever drug bust in the region when they arrested three Namibians and two Angolan citizens with a consignment of 361 kg of dagga worth N$1,05 million.

The suspects were apprehended with the  cannabis consignment wrapped in plastic bags.

Regional Crime Investigation Coordinator in the Kavango Region, Deputy Commissioner Willie Bampton said the suspects were nabbed on Wednesday after police on a routine patrol saw a white Toyota Corolla taxi with, registration number N7069RU, speeding around 01:00 a.m from Nkurenkuru.

“Our guys were on their way to Nkurenkuru to attend to a housebreaking case, because we received a call claiming that five armed men broke through the roof of PEP stores in Nkurenkuru and forced the shop manager, who resides at the shop, to open the safe.”
Bampton said the thieves had stolen about N$24 000, two cellphones and a DVD player from PEP Stores and vanished with their loot.

While the officers were on their way to Nkurenkuru, the taxi sped past them. The police pursued the taxi suspecting that it might have been part of the robbery, said Bampton, adding that when they eventually stopped the taxi, they saw the consignment. The driver of the taxi immediately dissociated himself from the dagga, saying he had  just been hired to drop it in Rundu and then collect the owners in Nkurenkuru.

The driver was arrested and led the law enforcers to the five suspects.

The Namibian suspects are Martin Jesaja (25), Kambonge Autustinus (31), and Ruketa Ernesto (27) while Chipoia Tjimalya (36) and Belmiro Frei (39) are from Kwando Kubango and     Huambo Province in southern Angola.

Bampton informed New Era that his unit had long suspected that Ernesto to been involved in illegal activities but they could not arrest him due to a lack of evidence.

The deputy commissioner suspects the drugs were smuggled from  Angola.

“I am sure the drugs did not pass through the legal entry point at the border, the guys brought them across the river using a canoe and in the process evaded the gazzetted border post,” he said.

According to Bampton, although the taxi driver cooperated with the police, he could not be released because he was an accomplice to the crime.

Bampton further explained that the newly-commissioned road between Eenhanha and Rundu was “a problem.”
According to the deputy commissioner, it had no police checkpoints, therefore criminals used it as a getaway route.

 The suspects appeared in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court without legal representation on Friday where the case was postponed to a later date for further investigations.

The suspects remain in police custody.