MARIENTAL – Deputy Commissioner of the Hardap Police Josua Ndemoongela Kuduva has revealed that some police officers in the region are on the payroll of drug lords, which makes it difficult to combat drug abuse in the region. He said the vice is tantamount to corruption and has seen drug syndicates going unpunished at times.
“It is so difficult when you plan an operation and then hear that one of the police officers involved had informed another or even civilians had tipped off each other. It is really a concern as some of the police officers are borrowing money from them (those involved in drug trafficking). So if they benefit from them why will they help you lock up these people?” Kuduva said.
“One day we planned an operation to search a certain house here in Mariental but immediately when we reached the house a man at the house told us, ‘I was at the stadium and a policeman told me that you are coming to search my house.’ We only succeed by chance. We know who is selling drugs and where the drugs are but we cannot get them because of this,” he explained, adding that he had several meetings with police personnel during which he warned them about police corruption but he has evidence that the practice continues unabated and culprits are yet to be brought to book.
Another concern, said Kuduva, is that children are used to hide drugs during raids. “People are clever they use small children, so if a family is selling drugs then the adults hide the drugs on children when the police come to search the house. People have reported that if you don’t find anything on the adults you would find it with the children. In Hardap in each town you find drug smugglers. Even the ones in the corridors looking innocent are carrying it,” he said with a hopeless sigh.
Detective Erwin Kgobetsi was in agreement saying it is extremely difficult to root out the evil, adding that such police corruption has completely destroyed the public’s trust and confidence in the police force.
“People know that some police officers are on the payroll of these drug lords. Now people don’t trust the police because they know the police have been compromised,” Kgobetsi said.
According to Kgobetsi the selling of drugs is fast becoming the Hardap Region’s biggest nightmare, with crack cocaine the most popular drug in Rehoboth in particular.
Kgobetsi said crack cocaine which is also referred to as ‘eat some more’ is also easily found on school grounds in Rehoboth.
Just last week Kgobetsi and his team arrested a 17- year-old boy and his 56-year-old grandmother Carolina aka Dama Garises. “We knew about her operation for a while. So we sent one of the police officers who are not known in Rehoboth to go and buy drugs at her house (in a sting operation). The door was answered by the 17-year-old boy who sold three ‘rocks’ (crack cocaine) to the police officer. When he (the police officer) informed us that he got the stuff we moved in and found 15 mandrax tablets on the grandmother and 15 grams of marijuana in the house. She resisted trying to put the blame on the child saying, ‘Ah you know how naughty these children are.’ But she could not explain the drugs found on her as well as the N$1 200 including the N$200 used by the police officer to buy the drugs which was found on her. It is not the first time that we deal with that house. In 2009 we also arrested a son of hers who was in his twenties,” said Kgobetsi.
He said because the town is small everyone knows “when something has happened which makes it difficult” to arrest the culprits.
“We know of many but we cannot hit them all at once so we must hit one at a time and stay low for a while and then target another a few months later,” he said.
With Christmas around the corner the burden grows heavier especially with the shortage of staff and a lack of sniffer dogs. “We do not have sniffer dogs like the police in Windhoek and we really need them. Sometimes the drugs are buried in the ground and then they (dealers) just rake sand over it as if they are simply cleaning their yard. Some people use their neighbours – so it is like a disease that spreads and every attempt by the police to clear it up must be improved because they (the drug pushers) improve their tactics daily. If you hit them here, then they put it there.”
Kgobetsi said that a small crystal about a quarter of one’s pinky nail cost N$100 making the illegal business highly lucrative when considering that the drug sells like hot cakes.
Meanwhile, Mariental Urban Constituency Councillor, Barakias Namwandi, questioned the commitment of border post officials saying it makes no sense that drug smugglers pass the border undetected.
“Neighbouring countries must take responsibility for the things that are passing through them. What is happening at the border post if you only discover the drugs in towns like Mariental which is hundreds of kilometres from the border? We really need better equipment at our border posts. Drugs is a national security threat. We cannot compromise on our security, we must be committed at all times,” Namwandi charged.
By Jemima Beukes