Bulawayo couple found with 140kg mbanje worth $87 000

By Whinsley Masara

A couple from Bulawayo was arrested last Wednesday for possession of mbanje with a street value of about $87 000.

Police raided Partmore Bonde (47) and Nomvulelo Ncube of Nkulumane suburb at their home following a tip-off.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango confirmed the successful raid.

“I can confirm the arrest of a man and a woman who were found in possession of over 140 kilogrammes of the illegal drug ‘dagga’ at their home.

“The two were raided following a tip-off and about 140 kg of dagga were recovered in one of the rooms at the house,” she said.

Insp Simango applauded members of the public for the tip-off saying such contributions by communities made police work easier while keeping communities safer.

“We are grateful to the community’s efforts of giving us information and we want to thank them. If we continue working together in such a manner, we will live in crime-free societies. We urge you to continue giving us information on any suspicious behaviour so that we bring law breakers to book,” she said.

A neighbour who preferred anonymity said residents knew Bonde and his wife had started a dagga selling business and decided to sell them out to police before things went out of hand in their neighbourhood.

“We gave police a tip-off so that they could arrest them because use of these illegal substances contributes to the increased crimes that we are reading about everyday in the papers. Such people need to be put behind bars because they are bad characters in our community. Police detectives conducted a search in their house and six 50 kilogramme bags were found stashed in one of their rented rooms,” said the neighbour.

A police source said at first Bonde denied owning the bags of dagga saying he had just been asked to keep the bags by a friend and had no idea what they contained.

“Later, he admitted he was the owner. He said it was his first attempt to sell the drug. He said he was making little from vending, so he decided to venture into drug pushing to make more,” said the source. B Metro