Two Nigerians, aged 38 and 41, and a 35-year-old South African appeared before the East London magistrate ’s court on Friday June 17 on allegations of drug dealing.
The trio were arrested in June by a joint team consisting of the Hawks provincial head office task team, Gqeberha Organised Crime Unit, East London K9 and tactical response team (TRT), and East London immigration officers.
It is alleged the Hawks task team members received information about one of the suspects allegedly dealing in drugs from his spaza shop in Belgravia.
“The teams jointly swooped on the premises and during the search, 168 zipper bags of tik, 286g of Cat, 250 Mandrax tablets, 300g of powder used in quantifying tik, 151g of a white unknown substance, two electronic weighing scales and cash to the value of R6,200 were seized,” said Hawks provincial spokesperson Yolisa Mgolodela.
The street value of the drugs is estimated at R80,000. “In another instance, it is alleged that information was received with regards to another Nigerian national dealing in drugs, who operated in Quigney, East London.
“On June 15, another successful purchase of drugs to the value of R6,000 was witnessed and led to the arrest of the 41-year-old Nigerian and the 35-year-old South African,” Mgolodela said.
Hawks acting provincial head, Brigadier Selina Maponya, welcomed the hefty sentence imposed by the East London magistrate’s court on Nigerian national, Ejike Okafor, 38, on June 23, for charges of dealing and possession of drugs.
After a series of court appearances, Okafor was sentenced to a fine of R200,000 or 10 years’ imprisonment. He further received a 10year suspended sentence, provided he is not convicted for the same offence during the five-year period of suspension
