Zim drug dealer jailed for 5 years in UK

By James Colasanti

A Zimbabwean man who was caught with a stash of cocaine and a sawn-off shotgun has been jailed for five years in the United Kingdom.

Mthatshelwa Mabandla, 22, was a bank clerk with excellent prospects until he fell in with the wrong crowd in Southend, a court heard.

Police discovered the weapon and shotgun cartridges, along with £2,500 of cocaine during a raid at his home in Argyll Road, Westcliff, last September.

Officers also found a notebook recording his drug dealing. It also contained violent rap lyrics written by Mabandla about gun crime.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said the gun was stolen during a burglary in Benfleet last May, and subsequently cut down to a length of two feet.

Mr Jackson said: “The Crown says this man was an active dealer of Class A drugs and had in his possession this weapon to use in connection with drug dealing activities.” Mabandla’s lawyer, Noel Casey, told the court Mabandla, from Zimbabwe, had come to the UK at the age of 14. He went to school in Southend, before getting a job at a local HSBC bank.

Bank workmates and members of his family’s church had provided glowing references, which showed Mabandla was a popular and kind young man.

He said his client became involved in crime after falling in with an “influential social circle”. He had taken possession of the gun “out of bravado”.

Mr Casey added: “Anyone who knows this young man finds it astonishing he has become involved in this.

“Now he has put this disgraceful aspect of his life behind him and hopes the sentence passed down does not take away any hope he has for the future.”

Judge Christopher Mitchell said it was clear Mabandla was running a “depot” for street drug dealing and must have been aware of the seriousness of having a dangerous weapon.

He added: “You were not someone, simply out on the streets as a runner in this drug dealing operation. You were, clearly, a little bit higher up the distribution chain.”

Mabandla, of Argyll Road, Westcliff, admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession and production of cannabis, and possession of a firearm.

He was jailed for five years for having the gun, and given a concurrent four-year sentence for the drugs offences.

A 23-year-old woman arrested at the time of the raid was released without charge. ECHO News