The Sunday News
Clementine Phulu, Sunday News Reporter
A 38-year-old man from Emakhandeni suburb in Bulawayo has been arrested after he was found in possession of 192 bottles of benylin syrup, various drugs and more than 10 cellphones which are suspected to have been stolen.
The accused person has been identified as Shadrek Choruma.
Police received information from members of the public that the accused person was dealing in drugs particularly benylin.
A search warrant granted by the courts was obtained leading to a search by the police dog section at his residence.
Confirming the incident, Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said there were indications that the man was a serial drug dealer as some previous search warrants were found for the same person.
He said the man has been on the police radar for a long time.
“We went to house number 402 at Emakhandeni where a search was conducted and benylin syrups that are being abused, were found stacked in a computer CPU to defeat any efforts by the police or law enforcement agents from detecting them.”
He said it was learnt that the accused person had brought a total of 192 bottles of benylin syrup together with some measuring equipment from outside country in August 2022, while he has been supplying the youths and the transport operators with these drugs.
Speaking at an Interfaith Symposium on Drug Abuse at the Lady Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Entumbane suburb, Insp Ncube said: “We would want to appreciate the Entumbane community which has set a target for other communities in Bulawayo to fight drugs. Entumbane is not actually highly affected by drugs but it indicates that the community is now saying any drop of drug that finds its way into Entumbane community will be snagged by the law enforcers and the culprits will be arrested.”
He said their wish was for that type of behavior and attitude from members of the public and the police to cascaded to all other communities in Bulawayo.
Insp Ncube said they were also appealing to school development communities to come together or even consider working with the police to supervise what was being sold at their school gates.
“It is suspected that some of the drugs are being sold by those people that are providing or selling some food stuff to school children as they go in and out. If the SDCs, the community and the police come together and declare total war against drug abuse and alcohol abuse then we will see Bulawayo being a safe place to live,” he added.
