Niël Terblanché
A 39-year-old man along with a second suspect, who was caught in possession of cannabis died after arriving at the Rehoboth Police Station on Friday morning.
According to the incident report provided by the Public Relations division of the Namibian Police, the two men were accosted at the premises of the JT Supermarket in Rehoboth.
The suspects were found in possession of 16 small packets of cannabis and were arrested. They were then taken to the Police Station but upon arrival one of the suspects became unconscious and collapsed.
“The arresting officers learned from his coaccused that the man swallowed an unknown number of mandrax tablets when he saw that they were going to be arrested. The suspect was rushed to the St Mary’s Hospital but was declared dead on arrival,” the report reads.
Although the police do not suspect any foul play at the moment, a post-mortem examination will have to be performed to determine the exact cause of the suspect’s death.
The suspected drug dealer who died on Friday was one of eleven people who were found in possession of illicit drugs over the Easter weekend. Most of the arrests were made in Rehoboth where members of the Drug Enforcement subdivision concentrated their efforts.
On the eve of Good Friday, the police in Schlip arrested a 57-year-old man who was found in possession of six small plastic packets containing cannabis.
The suspect was taken into custody and the value of the illicit drugs has not been made public.
Five more suspected drug dealers were arrested in Rehoboth on Friday.
According to the police report, a 33-year-old man was arrested after police discovered that he had a big bag of illicit weed on his person.
The drugs confiscated at the suspect’s place of residence in Block E weighed 240 g and is valued at N$12 000.
On the same day, another resident of Rehoboth was found to have four and a quarter mandrax tablets in his possession when police swooped into his house in Block B.
The value of the tablets is estimated to be N$550.
Another resident of Block B in Rehoboth was arrested on Friday after police found a parcel of cannabis known as skunk in his possession.
Two more residents of Rehoboth were arrested at the Woermann and Brock shop in Block E when investigating officers found them to be in possession of ten grams of skunk
The value of the drugs is estimated to be N$500.
The Namibian Police in Outjo also arrested two suspected drug dealers on Friday.
The two Outjo residents were arrested at the so-called Herero Location when the arresting officers on Friday afternoon found them in possession of tablets suspected to be mandrax.
The combined value of the tablets found on the person of the suspects is about N$500.
All the suspects are scheduled to appear on charges related to the possession and possible dealing of illicit drugs in the various Magistrate’s Courts this morning.
