By Patience Gondo
TWO men were arrested at the Beitbridge Border Post on Tuesday after detectives recovered about 80litres of banned habit-forming cough syrups contained in 799x100ml bottles.
The drugs were hidden in plastic drums on a bus travelling from South Africa to Harare.
The suspects were identified as Assah Mhara (38) of Mazanhi Village under Chief Nhema and Isaac Zimuto (34) of Roydan Farm in Norton.
Information gathered by Ziyah News Network showed the incident occurred at around 12:30PM inside the borderost.
Detectives from the CID Drugs and Narcotics unit deployed at the northbound buses and coaches searching bay at Beitbridge Border Post received a tip-off that suspicious substances were being transported on an African Link bus travelling from Cape Town to Harare.
Sources said the bus, registration number JWL 245 EC was intercepted and parked at the searching bay before detectives teamed up with officers from the ZRP Canine Unit and ZIMRA image analysts to carry out searches on the vehicle.
The team reportedly ordered the offloading of two 200-litre plastic drums that had been loaded in the boot of the bus for scanning and physical examination.
During the operation, detectives asked passengers and crew about the ownership of the drums, leading the two accused persons to admit that the containers belonged to them.
A sniffer dog was then deployed and reportedly reacted positively to the two drums, prompting authorities to subject the containers to further scanning procedures.
Investigators detected suspicious substances inside before opening the drums in the presence of the suspects.
Upon opening one of the drums, detectives reportedly recovered 395 bottles of 100ml BronCleer cough syrup, equivalent to 39.5 litres hidden beneath blankets.
The second drum contained 284 bottles of 100ml Astra Pain cough syrup amounting to 28.4 litres, which were concealed under blankets and packaging materials.
Authorities continued searching the luggage and later recovered two 20-litre buckets bearing similar labels.
Inside the buckets, detectives discovered an additional 120 bottles of 100ml BronCleer cough syrup equivalent to 12 litres.
In total, police reportedly recovered 515 bottles of BronCleer cough syrup, amounting to 51.5 litres, and 284 bottles of Astra Pain cough syrup measuring 28.4 litres.
The two suspects were subsequently arrested and investigations are continuing.
When contacted for comment, Superintendent Beatrice Nyakurerwa said information relating to the arrest had been forwarded to the national police office.
“Information related to that arrest was relayed to the national office. Kindly get hold of our police spokesperson Commissioner P. Nyathi,” said Superintendent Nyakurerwa.
At the time of publication , Ziyah News Network however have been unable to obtain comment from Senior Commussioner Paul Nyathi.