News / National
Drug pushing granny in court
02 Jan 2014 at 15:35hrs | Views
The drug pushing Gwabalanda granny, Josephine Sithole (70) who was caught with about 70 kg of mbanje worth about $70 000 today [Thursday] appeared in court.
Sithole is being co-accused with Ian Ncube, 47, also of Gwabalanda. She implicated him soon after her arrest and said she was keeping the mbanje for him.
Sithole and Ncube were granted $150 bail each with stringent conditions and remanded out of custody to January 14.
Each of them has to report thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Drugs and Narcotics, to reside at their given addresses in Gwabalanda and not to interfere with witnesses.
Bulawayo magistrate, Tawanda Muchemwa said there were no grounds that they could abscond trial. The state prosecutor Carrington Dhliwayo did not oppose bail.
Sithole and Ncube admitted to the charges of possessing mbanje weighing 64.6 kg and worth about $64,600 but told the court the drugs were not theirs.
"The bags do not belong to me. I was given to keep them but I didn't know that there was mbanje inside," Sithole told the magistrate.
Ncube also told the court that he left the bags with Sithole for safekeeping when he went to his rural home in Esigodini. Dhliwayo said police monitored Sithole's house from about 3am until 10am on New Year's Eve and searched the house at about 10.30am upon which five bags of the illicit drug was recovered in an en-suite toilet.
Police had sniffer dogs during the search. Members of the public had tipped detectives that Sithole was dealing in mbanje. It is said Sithole then implicated Ncube who she said had left the bags for safekeeping at her house. Detectives phoned Ncube on his mobile phone and he handed himself over to the police.
Meanwhile, homeless Hubert Ndebele (45) who was arrested on Christmas Eve for possessing mbanje with a street value of about $2 700 and being found with 65 cannabis plants in a garden, is scheduled to appear in court on 9 January.
Ndebele grew the drug in a garden at Westgate, near Sizinda suburb. ends
Sithole is being co-accused with Ian Ncube, 47, also of Gwabalanda. She implicated him soon after her arrest and said she was keeping the mbanje for him.
Sithole and Ncube were granted $150 bail each with stringent conditions and remanded out of custody to January 14.
Each of them has to report thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Drugs and Narcotics, to reside at their given addresses in Gwabalanda and not to interfere with witnesses.
Bulawayo magistrate, Tawanda Muchemwa said there were no grounds that they could abscond trial. The state prosecutor Carrington Dhliwayo did not oppose bail.
"The bags do not belong to me. I was given to keep them but I didn't know that there was mbanje inside," Sithole told the magistrate.
Ncube also told the court that he left the bags with Sithole for safekeeping when he went to his rural home in Esigodini. Dhliwayo said police monitored Sithole's house from about 3am until 10am on New Year's Eve and searched the house at about 10.30am upon which five bags of the illicit drug was recovered in an en-suite toilet.
Police had sniffer dogs during the search. Members of the public had tipped detectives that Sithole was dealing in mbanje. It is said Sithole then implicated Ncube who she said had left the bags for safekeeping at her house. Detectives phoned Ncube on his mobile phone and he handed himself over to the police.
Meanwhile, homeless Hubert Ndebele (45) who was arrested on Christmas Eve for possessing mbanje with a street value of about $2 700 and being found with 65 cannabis plants in a garden, is scheduled to appear in court on 9 January.
Ndebele grew the drug in a garden at Westgate, near Sizinda suburb. ends
Source - Byo24News
