Raymond Jaravaza, raymondjaravaza@gmail.com
THE car park near the Chronicle building in Bulawayo was the scene of a dramatic, but surgical police raid yesterday, as detectives swooped in on the notorious drug hotspot.
The operation was the result of months of surveillance and intelligence gathering by the CID Drugs and Narcotics division, who had been monitoring the illegal activities taking place next to the city’s largest media house, Zimpapers.
A Saturday Chronicle news crew witnessed the police operation that was planned and executed with precision, speed, and minimal collateral damage.
A small team of highly trained officers targeted the specified drug ring, using intelligence and surveillance to guide their actions.
Resisting the distraction around them, the detectives stuck to their objective as they searched and arrested several suspects, who had been using the street as a cover for their drug trade.
The suspects had been pretending to wash cars, while in fact they were selling and consuming various drugs and substances.
Detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics division quiz suspected drug peddlers at a car was along George Silundika Street yesterday
The newscrew witnessed the detectives escorting a Ford Ranger with South African plates, on suspicion that it had no proper documentation.
The drug peddlers were unaware that they had been under the watchful eyes of the police, who had received numerous tip-offs from the public about the rampant drug abuse in the area.
Inspector Abednico Ncube, the Bulawayo police spokesman, confirmed the raid and praised the efforts of the CID Drugs and Narcotics team.
“The raid conducted along George Silundika and 9th Avenue is the result of ongoing efforts by the police targeting drug and substance abuse users and dealers. Police will continue to use information provided by members of the public and by gathering their own intelligence to pounce on drug dealers in the city.
“The CID Drugs and Narcotics team has been receiving information that a lot of illegal activities are taking place in that area where some individuals purport to be washing cars yet are involved in drug peddling,” he said.
He added that the police will announce the exact number of arrests and the types of drugs seized in due course.
The raid was part of a wider crackdown on drug trafficking in Bulawayo, which has become a serious crime problem in the city.
Last year, the Chronicle exposed how drug lords have been recruiting street car washers, vendors, sex workers and street kids to act as their agents, using them to distribute drugs and substances such as methamphetamine (crystal meth), marijuana, Broncleer (a cough syrup known as ‘ngoma’), and illicit alcohol (‘njengu’). The drug traffickers have been employing creative and covert methods to evade law enforcement, posing a significant challenge to the authorities.
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