Chijioke Stephen Obioha (29), came to Singapore in November 2005 to try out for the football club Sporting Afrique, the paper said. He did not make the cut and instead made a living selling electronics.

Obioha was found guilty on Tuesday of trafficking 2,6kg of cannabis.

Singapore's drug laws are among the world's harshest. Anyone caught carrying more than 15g of heroin, 30g of cocaine, 500g of cannabis or 250g of methamphetamines faces a mandatory death sentence, carried out by hanging.

Penalties for consumption are also strict, including up to 10 years in jail, a $13 740 fine, or both.

[end]

A drug den erected outside a council-owned property has been demolished - but by its former occupants, who beat officials to the punch and knocked the structure down before it could be broken down by Metro Police.

Mayor Helen Zille and the Metro Police's drug unit went to Langa early on Wednesday morning to demolish the structure, but discovered that their work had been done for them.

Earlier this month the City of Cape Town evicted people from the council-owned residential property because drugs were being sold there.

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Substance-abuse counsellors are encouraging the relatives and friends of drug addicts and alcoholics to open up about their problems, particularly during the festive season when drug and alcohol abuse tends to increase.

They are also urged to contact support groups set up to cater specifically for them.

On Tuesday, Carry Bekker, programme director and co-founder of Stepping Stones Addiction Centre in Kommetjie, said families with drug-addicted or alcoholic members often struggled to cope.

"And it's worse during the festive season, because bonuses are paid out, there's more money to spend, and more alcohol and drugs are bought.

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In the third part of our special feature, Ellen Pakkies recalls the morning she slipped a rope around her tik-addict son's neck and ended his life.

It's cold for September; a winter chill on a spring morning. The clock has not yet struck six, and silence hangs over Dover Court in Lavender Hill.

Streaks of light begin to break the darkness. Most people here won't be up for another hour or so, but Ellen Pakkies is wide-eyed under the covers, her mind pacing.

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Childline Rings Alarm Bells After Three Grade 7 Boys Are Suspended For Dagga Possession.

Three Pietermaritzburg primary school pupils were barred from attending classes for a week after being found in possession of dagga.

The Grade 7 pupils, aged between 12 and 13, were trapped with the narcotics two weeks ago during a spot inspection by a teacher.

The discovery has shocked the close-knit Northdale community and highlighted the growing problem of drug peddling and abuse by primary school pupils.

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POLICE and the chemical industry are working together to curb the use of chemicals in the illicit manufacture of drugs.

Addressing the International Chemical Monitoring Conference in Durban, police commissioner Seswantsho Lebeya said the monitoring of the movement of chemicals in the country was critical amid an increasing demand for synthetic drugs.

In addition to the manufacture of the methamphetamines and other drugs, the laboratories were themselves "mini toxic waste sites" as criminals simply dumped the waste products without consideration for the environment, said Lebeya.

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"Drugs are a catalyst for a number of social ills at our schools, including Aids, violence, crime and suicide and we have decided to identify their use among our pupils."

These are the words of Kholiswa Mgaba, of drug and substance abuse management in the national education department, during the first of a two-day training programme and implementation of a drug policy at mostly "high risk schools" yesterday.

"We started training teachers here because we know that drug abuse at schools is a problem more than other parts of the province," she said.

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The National Association of School Governing Bodies in KwaZulu-Natal has welcomed the nationwide roll-out of drug-testing devices that will allow random testing of urine samples on pupils by early next year.

The drug testing programme was launched at the School Safety summit in KwaZulu-Natal last week but will only be rolled out across the country during the course of next year.

The provincial chairman of the parenting association, Reginald Chiliza, said a majority of parents were more than pleased and that it was high time teachers focused on educating instead of evading daily violence among pupils.

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NPA Seizes 24 Homes, Vehicles

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has declared war on KwaZulu-Natal drug dealers as 24 have had their homes, vehicles and other assets confiscated since May.

The NPA statement this week said that some of them have had their bank accounts frozen as well.

Meanwhile, police are working on leads and conducting interviews in an attempt to get to the bottom of Sunday's M-Net Carte Blanche programme of alleged corrupt police officers involved in the scourge of the drug, 'Sugars', in Chatsworth.

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Hundreds of Belhar residents took to the streets on Thursday night to protest against drug dealers operating in their community.

DA leader and Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille had been invited and joined them.

Fed up with the scourge of drugs in their community, residents staged a march and vigil outside suspected tik dens.

They brandished placards and chanted outside homes of wo alleged drug dealers in St Vincent Drive.

Zille has pledged the DA's support to those communities ravaged by drug abuse and related crime.

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Thousands of school pupils marched against drugs yesterday but a man in a silver Clio was left high and dry when the cops bust him with narcotics in his car.

The Lenasia children, from 11 schools in the area, were led by the march director, Leonard Spider.

He said: “We have been experiencing a serious problem with drugs in the area.

“This is just the beginning.

“Drugs are now penetrating our schools and the bad thing is that primary school children are also exposed to this.”

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South Africa is a major transhipment location for illicit drugs and drug use in the country continues to grow slowly, says the latest United Nations World Drug Report to be released on Wednesday.

The report also shows that South Africa is the major grower of dagga on the continent, with the drug also the most popular across the world.

According to the report, to be officially launched in Pretoria on Wednesday, the world drug situation "remains favourable over the long term".

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A Chatsworth pupil got hooked on drugs in his matric year. And the easy availability of dagga from his peers made it harder for him to kick the habit.

The teenager, who once had a razor-sharp mind, said although he had passed his exams, he would have scored higher marks had drugs not affected his concentration.

The boy, who is now on a rehabilitation programme, said, "I used to be dazed and unable to concentrate. I started smoking zol, then went on to Sugars. It wrecked my life and I only decided to give up when I got caught. Drugs have different effects on different people. They can make you sad, happy, reserved or violent."

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METRO POLICE officers were out in force in Lavender Hill and Retreat yesterday to give suspected drug dealers the message: "The heat is on, so stop now with your illegal trade or face the might of the law."

Using sledgehammers, bolt cutters and specially designed crowbars, a squad of Metro Police officers and their SA Police Service counterparts raided a number of houses in the two suburbs looking for drugs, targeting mainly council-owned properties suspected of being used as drug outlets.

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South Africans are more likely to cause injuries to themselves and others, commit crimes, miss work and engage in risky sexual behaviour because of alcohol and drug use.

This was said by Deputy Minister of Social Development Jean Swanson-Jacobs at the commemoration of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at Chris Hani Stadium in Orange Farm, Vaal, yesterday.

"Global statistics show that South Africans are much more likely than any other country's citizens to cause injury or death to themselves and to others when intoxicated.

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THE SA Medical Association (Sama) has expressed support for the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking, which saw a number of anti-drug marchers take to the streets in Plettenberg Bay yesterday.

Residents of Knysna and Plettenberg Bay gathered in KwaNokuthula yesterday morning and marched to a school in the main street to emphasise the importance of eradicating drug abuse and trafficking worldwide.

Sama said yesterday that a youth risk survey in 2002 had revealed that one in five pupils attempted suicide because of mental health problems caused, among other things, by substance abuse.

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While the students and nightclub owners who were allegedly manhandled and assaulted by the police during raids in Stellenbosch on Friday night prepared to take joint action against the police on Monday, the MEC for Community Safety has called on the provincial police commissioner's office and the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to investigate the raids.

The management of Bohemia, Die Mystic Boer and Springbok Pub were compiling statements from traumatised customers which they would submit to their lawyer for a civil and criminal case against the police.

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Patrons and owners of three Stellenbosch clubs raided by police during an anti-drugs blitz at the weekend are outraged at the law enforcers' alleged heavy-handedness and are considering legal action.

They claim raids at Die Mystic Boer, Bohemia and Springbok pubs in the early hours of Saturday where police fired bullets into the ceiling at Bohemia and pointed shotguns in several people's faces were unnecessarily brutal.

One student alleged police had thrown women against the walls and smashed glasses against the heads of customers waiting to be searched for drugs "It was brutal and horrific."

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The drug heroin was more easily obtainable than a hamburger nowadays, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille told an anti-drugs and anti-child abuse rally in Johannesburg yesterday.

This, after leading marchers wearing DA T-shirts bearing the slogan: "No to drugs and save our children" through the streets of Vrededorp, in Johannesburg.

Rampant drug and alcohol abuse was a major factor driving child abuse, Zille told them.

"When parents abuse drugs and alcohol, they neglect their children. These children are left to their own devices, at the mercy of those who prey on children," she said.

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Drug testing is set to become a regular feature in schools after the Education Laws Amendment Act was passed by parliament at the end of December.

Though pupils are targeted as customers by drug dealers and addiction and drug-related violence and crime are spiralling out of control, there has been resistance to the law.

Professionals in the substance abuse trade are some of the people less enthusiastic about the Act. They are concerned about infringing on the individuals' constitutional rights and the validity and integrity of testing procedures.

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