Five suspects, of whom four are Nigerian nationals, were arrested by the Hawks and other law enforcement agencies last week Wednesday during a takedown operation that was conducted in Gauteng and the North West Province. The accused are: Veronica Agu (30), Pascal Enuma Ezekwueme (51) a Nigerian national, Solomon Ezeh (38) a Nigerian national, Robinson Ikechukwa Okoye (44) a Nigerian national and Kingsley Ikenna Onbumneme (41), a Nigerian as well.
Henry Mamothame, the NationalPA Regional Spokesperson North West Division said the accused are facing 14 counts of dealing with drugs, valued at over R2 million. The Hawks reported that their Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit in collaboration with the National Intervention Unit (NIU), the Hawks' Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), Stilfontein Dog Unit, Potchefstroom Drug Task Team, Ekurhuleni District Task Team, and Bad Boyz Security arrested the five suspects on September 13, during an operation conducted in the North West and Gauteng provinces.
Their arrest of the five suspects emanates from the report about the intimidation received from a syndicate allegedly involved in distributing and selling narcotics in the two provinces. The information was then operationalized, and the teams managed to arrest the suspects at various identified houses in the two provinces.
The suspects made a brief court appearance before the Potchefstroom Magistrates Court last week Thursday, where they are facing 14 counts of dealing with drugs valued at over R2 million. Lucky Lerefolo, the founder of Peri Peri Community Safety in Ikageng, said drugs have turned out to be a new pandemic in Potchefstroom, where a high number of crimes have been reported daily, committed mainly by young people who are drug addicts.
He said the arrest of the five suspects did not bring any difference, saying they lacked support from the police to help them root out drug dealers in Town. "This arrest did not make a difference because Church Street in Potchefstroom is now a hub for drugs - with drugs being sold at daylight to our children, and nothing is happening from the side of our police," he said.
All five suspects will remain in custody until their next court appearance, and their case was postponed to September 20 for a formal bail application. The verification process to determine their status is still underway. Meanwhile, hundreds of people against drug trading marched to Union Buildings on Friday in a protest arranged by a well-known TV presenter, Xolani Khumalo, to hand out their memorandum to the government requesting the implementation of a national drug master plan as well as harsher punishments for those found guilty of drug-related offences.
Different organizations, South African citizens, and concerned foreign nationals who were seen together as part of the march raised the same concern: drug trafficking and drug abuse harm the community and lead to many criminal offences, gender-based violence, and femicide cases reported in the country.
