Windhoek
The Drug Law Enforcement Unit of the Namibian Police on Monday destroyed a consignment of over 500 kilogrammes of cannabis, Mandrax tablets, ephedrine powder and crack cocaine.
The total value of the drugs was N$2.2 million.
The drugs were burned at an incinerator at the government-owned Veterinary Research Centre at Farm Berg Vlug, east of Windhoek. The media received an invitation to witness the burning.
The drugs were mainly seized in Windhoek, Gobabis and Rehoboth and at border posts across the country between 2004 and 2010, as well during 2015.
Briefing the media at the farm, the head of the police’s Public Relations Division, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, said the police decided to burn the confiscated drugs after the successful completion of prosecution of the accused.
The people arrested in connection with the drugs were foreign nationals from neighbouring South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while others were from Swaziland and Lesotho. He did not disclose how many people were prosecuted.
“All of these people’s cases are completed in favour of the prosecuting authority and we are now just destroying the drugs. All the drug dealers are serving their punishment (prison terms) in various prisons across the country,” said the deputy commissioner.
He added that the police regularly destroy drugs after the related drug possession or dealing in drugs cases are finalised in court.
Two years ago, New Era reported that members of the 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 the Berg Vlug research station outside Windhoek.
The dagga was destroyed under the supervision of Commissioner Nicholas Shiweda Endjala, head of the Criminal Investigation Directorate 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.