14 Dec 2023

The long arm of the law closed in on nine people in Molepolole on Thursday when police raided some houses in efforts aimed at stemming the flow of illicit drugs in the village.

The nine, five men and four women, all Batswana, were arrested during raids on eight houses in which a cumulative weight of around three kilogrammes of drugs worth an estimated value of P30 000 were confiscated.

In an interview, Senior Assistant Commissioner Christopher Mbulawa of Botswana Police Service’s Drug Enforcement Agency said with the streets becoming awash with illicit drugs, the police saw it fit to tighten the noose around those peddling unwanted substances as part of the activities of its annual 60 days campaign against crime and road traffic accidents.

Mr Mbulawa explained that the dominant drugs impounded from the Molepolole raids were Marijuana and Methcathinone or Cat as is commonly known and added that the suspects would appear in court once the substances had been subjected to forensic analysis to ascertain if indeed they are drugs.

He said during the raids the police discovered some of the drugs hidden in family houses resulting in the primary suspects being taken into custody alongside their parents, who often feigned ignorance of the presence of drugs on their properties.

Mr Mbulawa thus advised parents to learn to ask their children about the contents of their rooms to avoid being complicit in criminal activities.

He said the raids which they conduct in collaboration with other law enforcement departments and agencies like the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and the Botswana Prisons Service started in the Greater Gaborone area and will widen its reach to every corner of the country in search of those violating the law.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Mbulawa cautioned those peddling drugs that the police would fish them out and make them face the legal consequences of their actions.

In order to win the war against illicit drugs, he said the public should work hand in hand with law enforcement agencies.

ENDS