Unam ‘drug dealers’ busted

By Confidente Reporter
FIVE University of Namibia (Unam) law students were arrested on Monday morn­ing, for allegedly selling drugs at the main campus in Windhoek.
The students, aged between 21 and 26 years old, cannot be named until they have appeared in court, which had not happened at the time of going to print.
They were allegedly caught with a total of 20 packets of marijuana and N$150 in cash. The suspects were allegedly selling a tiny packet of dagga for N$50 each.
The five were initially caught by security guard, Nakale Johannes, who was drawn to the smell of dagga emanating from inside the university’s recreational centre.
They were later arrested by the police and charged with two counts – being in possession and selling marijuana on campus.
Case number CR272/04/201 was opened at the Windhoek Cen­tral Police Station.
Speaking to Confidente short­ly after the arrest, Johannes said that he was carrying out a routine inspection around the campus, when a foul smell emanating from the recreational centre caught his attention.
He said that the students were allegedly selling the dangerous substance to their friends and other students, to make a quick buck, but they had in the process subjected themselves to risks that they were either ignorant of or did not take seriously.
“I was patrolling various areas on campus, and when I got to the recreational centre, a bad smell caught my attention. I went in­side and found the boys (alleged­ly) preparing to smoke. I checked their bags and found the drugs. I immediately reported the incident to my seniors, before the police were called. I suspect that they sold the drugs to fellow students,” Johannes said.
He, however, added that two of the students were not physically found in possession of the drugs.
He said they were only in com­pany of the other three students, who had allegedly hid the dagga in their school bags.
At the time of going to print, Confidente could not reliably verify who the students’ suppliers are and whether or not they (the suppliers) are also attending to the university.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that drug abuse on the main cam­pus is moderately high, with a number of students having been expelled earlier this year.
When contacted about the mat­ter, Unam spokesperson, Simon Namesho, said, “The students will be subjected to a disciplinary hearing, which will pronounce it­self thereafter.”