Police fighting a losing battle on drugs in Botswana
The greatest headache of all times for Botswana Police is on how to curb and arrest the high increase of illegal importation, sale and consumption of habit forming drugs which continue to infiltrate the local market - including schools, executive offices, play grounds and restaurants.
So far, official statistics provided by the Narcotics Fauna and Flora Investigation Unit of Botswana Police indicate that thousands of cases have been opened, while hundreds of both citizens and foreigners have been arrested, with a good number of students from primary, junior and senior secondary, as well as tertiary institutions having admitted to taking drugs in inconsiderate fashion. Police say habit forming drugs such as dagga, cocaine, heroin , ephedrine and Math-Cathinone, which is also known as CAT in street language, are supplied by both local and foreign dealers.
The law enforcement agencies are doing all in their power to bring culprits to book and warn the nation to be vigilant. The police say many locals are still in denial over the fact that their neighbour could be involved in habit forming drug dealings. Police say irrespective of their origin, drugs are circulating on the local streets and are being sold either on your doorstep, your rented house, office and to amongst others, your children or even spouse .
Statistics reveal that able bodied persons in this country, among them students, teachers, lawyers and chief executives have turned to drug abuse irrespective of their gender and age, of which many escaped death by a whisker, while others got killed. A confession by a youth from South Africa, Thoriso Maduna, significantly attests to the worry that the police share. Maduna confessed that for years, he was lost to drugs until a fortnight ago, but now has been saved by Jesus Christ after being delivered by Prophet TB Joshua at Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos, Nigeria.
Speaking to The Midweek Sun after the Service, Maduna who now is back at school to complete his Masters Degree in Johannesburg, confessed that he has friends all over Southern Africa including in Botswana. Maduna talks of the many locals, unknown and prominent, who deal and engage in drugs under the radar. “I abandoned my studies, visited Botswana purely for entertainment where I indulged in drugs with my Batswana friends, some of whom are high-ranking officials,” reveals Maduna, who started drinking, smoking and lusting after women at a tender age of 13.
Botswana Police have neither arrested nor met Maduna. But, Assistant Superintendent Peteros Nkgetse of Narcotics Fauna and Flora Investigation Unit confirms his story that there is a high rise of habit forming drugs being sold and consumed locally by people of different ages and background. Nkgetse revealed that between January and December 2014 they recorded many cases of the sale and use of dagga, cocaine- ephedrine, CAT and heroine. He said in 2014, they recorded 639 cases of dagga weighing 359.173 kgs. Out of the 639 cases, 837 Batswana were arrested while 33 were foreigners. Still in the same year, the police registered 12 cases of cocaine weighing 146, 915 grams, involving 19 citizens. The same year they recorded one case of CAT and arrested one Motswana, while there was one case of Heroine weighing 969,1grams involving three Tanzanians.
Nkgetse said regrettably, the use of habit forming drugs increased between January and December 2015, but this time they made arrests only on those dealing with dagga, cocaine, CAT and heroine. “We registered 652 cases of dagga weighing 253.632 kgs, involving 732 citizens and 45 foreigners. We further recorded 18 cases of cocaine weighing 188.5 grams involving 22 citizens, and five foreigners.
In the same year, we recorded 14 cases of CAT weighing 130.898 grams, involving 25 citizens and two foreigners. And we arrested 4 Tanzanians for two cases of heroin weighing 199.469grams. Although it is still too early to give the 2016 numbers, Nkgetse revealed that “We have already recorded 6 cases of heroine weighing 8162.2 grams and 8.2 kilograms and arrested 5 Tanzanians at Kazungula border which is the entry point that many drug dealers have been trying to use in smuggling drugs of late”.
Nkgetse confirms that between 2010 to present, the police got in touch with a number of students attending schools at primary, secondary and tertiary involved in drugs as follows: they registered 28 cases in 2010, while in 2011 a total of 53 students, of which 47 were attending school at junior secondary, were caught in the web. “What worries us as the police is the increase in the number of students involved in drugs at tertiary schools. There were 43 recorded cases of students involved with drugs in 2015, out of which 18 cases involved tertiary students,” said Nkgetse.