WINDHOEK – Members of the Namibian Drug Law Enforcement Unit destroyed 800 kilogrammes of dagga with a street value of N$2.4 million and 80 kilogrammes of crack cocaine worth N$25 000 at Bergvlug research station, outside Windhoek last Friday.
The dagga was destroyed under the supervision of Commissioner Nicholas Shiweda Endjala, head of the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) of the Namibian Police. The drugs, he said, were seized from drug dealers and abusers over several years. The destroying of the drugs followed the successful conclusion of 12 cases stretching from 2001 to 2012.
The cannabis was neatly packed in brown paper bags and stashed in big nylon carry bags.
The narcotics unit destroyed the drugs in an environmentally friendly incinerator which operated at a temperature of 850 degrees Celsius. No smoke was observed during the process.
Endjala said burning the substances at the Ministry of Health and Social Services incinerator would have caused too much smoke pollution. “We received complaints from hospital staff and prison quarters that the smell was upsetting. That is why we chose this remote facility of the vetinarary services to burn the substances,” Endjala said, adding that there are still hundreds of drug cases to be finalised in court.
By Fifi Rhodes