COPS SHOULD DEAL WITH PURPORTED DRUG LORDS - GIJA

MBABANE – Manzini Regional Administrator (RA) Chief Gija made it his mandate to assist police in dealing with purported drug lords in Manzini.

Gija was responding to questions from this publication on the submission made by Senator Lindiwe Ngwenya, that there are known drug dealers in Manzini, who have been pushing their trade for years now.

Ngwenya submitted that in Manzini, there are drug lords, particularly at Fairview and next to Manzini Central schools, and she made her submission in the presence of Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini during the annual performance report debate of his office for the financial year 2024/25 in Parliament recently.

“Now and again, we give police information on the activities of these drug lords, but why are they not acting on the information to round up drug lords who are known?,” she enquired from the PM.

Appreciated

In his response, the PM said the observation by the senator is appreciated and this matter is under intensive police investigation and spotlight.

When interviewed on this issue, Chief Gija said drugs are an enemy of the law globally.

He said if police are aware of the matter then it leaves the question of why they are not acting on it, because it is a criminal act to produce or sell drugs. He mentioned that one of the core mandates of the police is to keep society clean by eliminating such acts hence there are anti-drugs legislations that speak to it.

Chief Gija revealed that as a region, it had not reached their attention that there were known places that were a hub for producing or selling drugs but now that it had come to the fore, it was their obligation to take it up with the police for the issue to be arrested and those implicated face the law. Chief Gija revealed that there were a lot of negatives that were brought by the consumption of drugs in the country, adding to the socio-economic challenges and the moment such can be brought to their office, they would not hesitate to go to the police and report such so that necessary action could be taken.  The RA revealed that a few days back, Manzini Station Commander was at his office and the discussion was centred around how they can strengthen their collaboration in fighting crime given that His Majesty King Mswati III requested peace from emaSwati as a gift.  “If there are known people selling or producing drugs, then we will not develop as a country. Now that this has come to my attention, I will make it my mandate to go to the police to address it so that necessary action can be taken and those implicated to face the law,” he said.

On the suspicions that the known drug lords might be working closely with the police, who tip them whenever there are planned raids to their compounds so that they can hide their stuff, Gija said police are humans.

He said it might happen that those suspicions are not close to the truth or that the police are actually engaging in the criminal act in exchange for financial favours.

“That part is for the police to investigate and deal with it accordingly. It can be unfortunate if there are police officers who are corrupt and it is one of the things that I will address with the police when we discuss this issue. “There is nothing more that we want than to see the country developing and moving forward and that entails sweeping all that could be a stumbling block,” he said.

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