ZAMBIA, like many African countries, is facing a complex problem of cannabis cultivation, trafficking and abuse.

Though interdiction efforts have been stepped up in the recent past, seizures of the drugs are on the increase, especially from the countryside.

One wonders how cannabis cultivations have gone undetected by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) until may be to a point when the crop is ready for harvest.

Speaking at a workshop recently, DEC commissioner Mukutulu Sinyani lamented that insufficient manpower and other operational and logistical hiccups had contributed to the non-detection of some cultivators.

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INFORMATION and Broadcasting Minister Newstead Zimba has challenged the media to take an active role in the fight against money laundering and corruption which he described as a serious crime.

The minister said this during the opening of a three-day workshop on the role of the media in combating money laundering and drug trafficking at Blue Crest Motel in Lusaka yesterday.

In a speech read for him by his deputy Webby Chipili, he said the new deal administration had waged a vicious war against corruption and money laundering which were retarding national development.

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THE Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested a 71- year-old man believed to be a major supplier of cannabis in Chipata.

The commission also seized 1.7 tonnes of cannabis with a street value of K8 million from the suspect.

DEC spokesperson Betty Mumba said yesterday it was believed the suspect was supplying drugs to most residents in the area.

The suspect was remanded in custody and will appear in court soon.

And in Ndola, a peasant farmer was arrested for trafficking in 800 kg of fresh cannabis.

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The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested 533, people of whom 515 are Zambians since the beginning of the year for unlawful possession of drugs.

The commission says it has already secured 183 convictions through the courts of law while illicit drugs estimated at K9.20 billion have been seized between January 1 and February 28, 2003.

DEC acting public relations officer Trevor Malambo said in Lusaka yesterday that among those arrested were 515 Zambians, six Britons, three Somalis, three Congolese from the DR Congo. Others included two Zimbabweans, one Angolan, one Tanzanian, one Lebanese and one Irish.

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When he stepped down as President of Zambia last year, Frederick Chiluba was anticipating a quiet retirement. Since then, however, he has become the subject of an unprecedented drugs and corruption investigation.

Police forced their way into Mr Chiluba's home, after he refused to let them in, and searched it for drugs on Saturday, confiscating documents, a rifle and a shotgun. A day earlier, the Lusaka High Court had ruled that his immunity from prosecution could be lifted, though it gave him 30 days to appeal. The houses of his lawyers, Robert Simeza and John Sangwa, were searched yesterday.

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