TEN people have been arrested after Police and suspected members of a drug gang clashed in Lusaka's notorious Chibolya Township yesterday. A failed raid by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) sparked the violence which also left two private vehicles torched during the skirmish. Police and the DEC have over the years struggled to clean up drug activities in Chibolya, leaving the illicit drug dealers to operate at will, selling cannabis, cocaine and heroin, among others. Lusaka Province commissioner of police, Lemmy Kajoba reiterated that the law enforcement agencies would re-strategise on a soon-to-be embarked drug operation in Chibolya. [continues 278 words]
IT should be a matter of grave concern to authorities and all Zambians that the country has been cited in the 2007 International Narcotics Board report as being among the few countries in Africa leading in cannabis cultivation and abuse. According to the report, Zambia is also increasingly becoming a favourite destination and transit point for shipments of cocaine from West Africa and Latin America for onward delivery to Europe and the North Americas. Africa, Zambia included, is also being used as a trans -shipment area for the diversion of precursors, particularly ephedrine and pseudo -ephedrine. [continues 339 words]
DESPITE protracted Government efforts to rid Zambia of illicit drugs and abuse, the problem seems to have been growing from one extreme to another. Apart from the number of people arrested for trafficking and use of banned substances and the stiff penalties in force, more and more people seem to be getting hooked on drugs. They are either deeply involved in trafficking, or are serious consumers which is worrying. Year in year out, the international community observes World Anti Drug Day with serious messages on how ruinous to life drugs can be, but we still do not have a decrease in the number of people getting in trouble with the law over drugs. [continues 284 words]
FORMER Zambia Export Growers Association (ZEGA) chairman, Sydney Chileshe has urged the Supreme Court to quash the proceedings of the High Court because they were unfair and a gross miscarriage of justice. Chileshe, 49, was last year sentenced to 10 years with hard labour by Lusaka High Court Judge Justice Charles Kajimanga after reviewing the case in which he was convicted and fined by a lower court. The lower court had given Chileshe a suspended sentence and fined him K5 million after convicting him of four counts of trafficking and cultivation of marijuana, unlawful possession of firearm and unlawful possession of 18 rounds of ammunition. [continues 262 words]
THE Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in Ndola has urged pupils to desist from using drugs as they are harmful to their health. DEC officer Luckson Zulu told pupils of Nsansa Trust school there was no truth to the belief that drugs made the user more intelligent. He said one was more likely to go mad from using drugs and urged them to report anyone abusing drugs in any school. Mr Zulu said was addressing the pupils yesterday during an awareness programme organised in conjunction with the Lions Club of Twikatane. [continues 183 words]
THE Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) says drug abuse in prisons has reduced following sensitisation programmes for inmates and the community about the dangers of drug abuse. National education division campaign coodinator Lackson Zulu said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that the commission had of late not recorded any case of abuse of drugs in prisons. He said the community had learnt the dangers of drug abuse and that they had stopped supplying drugs to prisons. Mr Zulu commended the prisons authority and inmates who had been trained as counsellors for helping the commission in stopping the abuse of drugs in prisons. He said it was with their help that the commission was achieving its goals to have a drug free prison by 2006. [end]
THE Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by three appellants against the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) for freezing three bank accounts in Stanbic bank and seizure of six motor vehicles because it lacked merit. In a judgment delivered yesterday Chief Justice Ernest Sakala who was sitting with Justices Irene Mambilima and Sandson Silomba said upon consideration of the issues at hand, he found that the whole appeal was without merit. This was in a matter in which C and S investments, Ace Car Hire and Sunday Maluba had appealed against a High Court decision, which refused to grant them judicial review over the freezing of bank accounts involving cash amounting to K92, 700,000,000 belonging to Mr Maluba in 2002. [continues 264 words]
THE Zambia Prisons Service has commended the Drug Enforcement Commission for its continued sensitisation of prisoners over the dangers of drug abuse. Prisons service public relations officer Doreen Ngoma said in an interview from Kabwe yesterday that the programme had contributed to the reduction of drug abuse in prisons. Ms Ngoma said the `in-but-free programme' had generally helped to change behaviour of prisoners. She said the programme which had also been tackling the aspect of health had contributed to the behavioural change because in-mates had realised the dangers of HIV/AIDS. [continues 65 words]
Over 1,000 people have been arrested and 74 tonnes of cannabis seized since the beginning of the year, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) spokesperson Betty Mumba has disclosed. Ms Mumba who was speaking in an interview at this year's Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) said out of the 930 operations carried out throughout the country, 1,311 people were arrested. Ms Mumba said 444 of the total people arrested have been convicted while 945 cases are still pending. She added that 74 tonnes of cannabis with a street value of K55 billion had been seized during the operations. She said 800 kilogrammes of cannabis seed which was meant for export had also been seized. [continues 267 words]
A widow was yesterday sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour after a Kitwe magistrate found her guilty of trafficking in 80 grammes of marijuana. Before magistrate Phobias Numbwa was Mary Phiri, 33, of house number 783 Buchi township who pleaded guilty to the charge. Facts before the court were that on June 12, 2004, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers who were on duty in Buchi township searched Phiri's cabin after a tip-off from members of the public that she was dealing in drugs. [continues 157 words]
DEC public relations officer Betty Mumba said in Lusaka yesterday that the four Somalis, were picked up for trafficking in 2.4 kg of the drug called khat, popularly known as miraa. Ms Mumba said that those arrested included a 42-year old house owner, a 45-year-old transporter, a businessman and a driver aged 34 and 36 years respectively. She warned foreign nationals to respect the laws of the country and stop engaging in illegal trafficking and abuse of narcotic and psychotropic substances. [continues 103 words]
Government has urged member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Free Trade Area to strengthen cooperation in border management to prevent cross-border crime. Vice-President Nevers Mumba made the call during the official opening of the first meeting of Comesa committee of ministers of home affairs held at the Comesa secretariat in Lusaka yesterday. "The majority of our people crossing the borders are law-abiding citizens and while we make efforts to ease their movements across the borders, we need to ensure that persons that seek to take advantage of our cooperation to perpetrate criminal acts, such as smuggling and illicit drug trafficking are deterred," Dr Mumba said. [continues 231 words]
A Lusaka magistrates court yesterday fined former Zambia Export Growers Association (ZEGA) chairman Sydney Chileshe K5.1 million, on four counts of trafficking and cultivating marijuana and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition. The court fined Chileshe who was found with 5,987 kg of marijuana worth K4.1 billion, a firearm and 18 rounds of ammunition without licence, or in default face 32 months simple imprisonment. But the prosecution has applied to have the US $800,000 farm used in the illegal dealings forfeited to the State. [continues 469 words]
The Supreme Court has upheld a High Court decision to strike off Lusaka lawyer, Julungu Fred Matenda, from practising his profession in the country because he was convicted of drug trafficking in 1997. Delivering judgment, deputy Chief Justice David Lewanika said the drug scourge had become a source of concern not only nationally but worldwide. In dismissing the appeal by Matenda with costs, Justice Lewanika said he agreed with the high court that the advocate's conduct had injured the entire legal profession. [continues 168 words]
INDEFATIGABLE musician Nasty D is on the Copperbelt for a number of shows where he will also bring out anti-drug awareness messages. The turbaned musician who is now staying at a farm in Kabwe disclosed that the magistrate who convicted him recently had demanded that he brings awareness of the dangers of drugs. Nasty D (fondly called Ba Nasty) said next week on Saturday he will be performing at Baluba Motel in Luanshya before holding several other shows at Dolphin in Ndola. [continues 80 words]
NDOLA Football Coaches Association (NFCA) have hired experts from the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to conduct a workshop aimed at highlighting the dangers of drugs in sport. With a number of Zambian footballers arrested by DEC for possessing and trafficking in marijuana, NFCA said they were worried by the consumption of performance-enhancing psycho-tropic substances by Zambian sportsmen. "As Ndola coaches we are worried by reports that Zambian players use drugs to enhance their performance. In conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Commission, we wish to invite club officials and coaches to a seminar to be held on December 13, 2003 at the Savoy Hotel in Ndola," NFCA treasurer Tom Kunda said yesterday. [continues 178 words]
A KABWE magistrate court has slapped a 12-months prison sentence on Zambian musician Davis Ngoma popularly known as "Nasty D" after convicting him of trafficking in marijuana. Magistrate Beatrice Kabinga however suspended the jail term for two years after Ngoma's lawyer Abudual Shonga from Shamwana and Company pleaded with the court to exercise lenience as his client was a first offender. Ngoma was arrested by Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers two weeks ago in Kabwe where he had gone to perform after finding him with 15 grammes of marijuana. [continues 255 words]
IT seems the battle against drug trafficking and abuse in Zambia is fast being won, thanks to the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC). Already, there is an increasing number of locals and foreign nationals who have been arrested on offenses of drug trafficking. And many more are being arrested. This year especially, the crusade has witnessed the incarceration of a good number of individuals from different walks of life who push drugs with the aim of making quick bucks. But despite the successes that DEC could easily boast of in keeping the drug scourge under its feet, the big question remains: Why has DEC failed to penetrate the prison walls where illicit drug and narcotic substance abuse occurs at its worst? [continues 984 words]
The importance of the efforts of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to rid our society of illicit drugs cannot be over-emphasised. The zeal with which the commission has gone about carrying out its duties right across the land is highly commendable. But the commission might be missing something in its pursuit of the rural growers of the cannabis. The drug barons are here in the urban areas. These are the people who encourage the poor villagers to cultivate these dangerous crops in large quantities which they buy at very low prices, export and amass massive profits. [continues 339 words]
Money laundering has now become a source of worry and concern to not only to Government but to society at large. But the question is: How many Zambians understand the meaning of the term "money laundering"? Admittedly, there has been little activity on prevention of money laundering in the country. Money launderers activists seek to operate in countries where there are lax controls. Money laundering is defined as the 'method of hiding' mixing and disguising the proceeds of criminal activity through legally operating institutions for the purpose of concealing the origins of the proceeds. [continues 1143 words]
