Illegal trafficking of cocaine is on the rise in Botswana, leading to a situation where the drug is the most smuggled into the country.
Narcotics Fauna and Flora Investigations Officer, Assistant Superintendent Osefile Mmitseng says the smuggling of cocaine incidents were on the rise. 
He said that it is evident that a lot of Batswana were involved in illegal trafficking of cocaine because most of the recent cases only involved citizens.  
He expressed worry that many youth were consuming cocaine at a high rate. Mmitseng said that although some of the cocaine was smuggled through the ungazetted points of entry, they were always on alert to curb the increasing incidents.
“We are not just sitting because we have seen that the rise in cocaine smuggling was on the rise and most of the people who consume it are the youth. We have interventions in place to sensitise the youth to stay away from using drugs,” said Mmitseng.
He said that some of the cocaine was able to be smuggled┬áthrough borders because they don’t have machinery to detect drugs.
Mmitseng said that usually they deploy security agents who use sniffer dogs to search for those who smuggle the drugs. 
So far they have arrested four Batswana who were involved in the smuggling of cocaine in large amounts. 
Mmitseng said that they have already identified hot spots in Gaborone where cocaine is sold. He said that they would target these places and arrest anyone dealing in such drugs.
Mmitseng vowed to fight the use of drugs such as cocaine in schools amid the rise of cocaine smuggling in the country.
He added that against this backdrop of a rise in cocaine smuggling and peddling, they have they have visited schools to sensitise students about the dangers of using drugs.
Botswana Institute of Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Offenders Chairman, Mothei Sejakgomo, said that as former drug users they have a campaign aimed at sensitising school children about the dangers of using drugs.
He said that they have already gone to schools where they encouraged students to stay away from using drugs. 
Sejakgomo said that as former drug users they are concerned that drugs are made available to the youth who end up using them. He said that there is need to sensitise the youth to stay away from drugs because they are dangerous to their health and future.
