2017-08-31Staff Report 2 Maria Amakali Windhoek A forensic report has confirmed the chemical substance found inside Joao Huyeye, an Angolan national, was indeed cocaine. Forensic scientist Johanna Kahe Diyelenge from the Forensic Institute of Namibia said the plastic-coated oval packets excreted by Huyeye contained cocaine. Huyeye, who took the stand and took a not guilty plea during the start of his trial in the Magistrate’s Court in Katutura, has been in custody since his arrest at Hosea Kutako International Airport upon arrival in Namibia on December 12, 2016. Upon his arrest, the 41-year-old was taken to Katutura Intermediate Hospital, where he was given medication that would speed up the extraction of the foreign substances detected in his digestive tract by x-rays. Huyeye excreted 123 oval plastic-coated packets. Forensics confirmed that the oval objects contained cocaine, weighing 847 grams in total, with a street value of N$423,500. Consequently, the prosecution charged Huyeye with dealing in cocaine, and an alternative charge of having been found in possession of cocaine. Huyeye was arrested after the police received an anonymous tip-off that he would be traveling to Namibia through Hosea Kutako International Airport on a flight from South Africa and that he will be attempting to smuggle drugs through. According to the prosecution, Huyeye was in transit from Sao Paulo, Brazil via South Africa en route to Angola via Namibia. Huyeye’s case was struck from the roll after the magistrate from Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Lüderitz Street realised that the mandatory 48-hours before the accused person’s first appearance in court had lapsed. The case was thus struck from the roll and Huyeye was released for a few hours before being rearrested. The case was then transferred to Katutura Magistrate’s Court. According to Detective Chief Inspector Immanuel Namundjembo, who took the stand on the first day, Huyeye could not make his first appearance on time due to miscommunication. The trial is set to continue on September 21. 2017-08-31Staff Report 2
