RUNDU - A police sting operation in Rundu yesterday culminated in the arrest of a man and a woman in connection with five boxes containing 103,49 kg of cannabis with a street value exceeding N$1 million.

According to the police the woman was found in the room where the drugs were stored while the man was found selling the dagga. The two were apprehended at Sikanduko informal settlement in Rundu at 11h30am.

“We got some information from a source and we initiated a sting operation and were successful. The two suspects will make their first court appearance tomorrow (Tuesday),” said Deputy Commissioner Vilho Kalwenya, in charge of operations in Kavango East who confirmed the record drug bust.

“You see such huge amounts of cannabis in our town – imagine what will happen if it goes all over, it will negatively affect our people. In terms of cannabis we have a lot of success stories during operations particularly in Rundu and Ndiyona districts; we are monitoring these things,” Kalwenya said. 

Kalwenya encouraged the community to report underhand dealings in cannabis and other drugs and he assured informers that such info would be handled with utmost confidentiality.

“I’m just appealing to members of the public that they should not distance themselves from the police – we should work together, the police and the public are one, we are serving the nation so I’m calling upon the public to report when they see or hear these things, the so-called dagga selling or dealings  in their localities, as this is happening all over,” said the deputy commissioner.

“If you don’t trust some members of the police, you can talk to our regional commander herself, Commissioner Johanna Ngondo, who can then instruct those on the ground to sniff this out; we are all going to treat it with confidentiality, your identity will not be exposed, as we are professionals and we are here to protect you,” Kalwenya further assured the community who are key to many police operations.

Kalwenya further noted that the seized bags had names written on them with no addresses: “But what we have realised is that they already started selling.”

“The drugs are really contaminating our society. In the past children were not heard of smoking or using drugs but today we have cases of children using them, parents are coming to report this to us about their 13- and some 16-year-old using these things, and it means it’s contaminating the whole nation, the so-called cannabis, it is very dangerous to a person’s brain,” he said.