Despite the government’s pledge to try to intervene and combat the problems of drug trafficking in the country, Francistown continues to experience serious drug trafficking and drug abuse.
Speaking to the Sunday Standard in an interview, Albert John Morapedi, the Deputy Officer in Command of the Diamond and Narcotics Squad (DNS) in Francistown, said that it is a worrying concern that drug trafficking and abuse continue to be rife in the city.
“The rate of drug trafficking in the north region is much higher than that in the South and, normally, it is due to the influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries,” Morapedi said.
He pointed out that the abuse and the trafficking is usually on hard drugs, like cocaine, marijuana and mandrax, adding that one of the things they want to sensitize the public on is to try and work even harder to cooperate with the police and give police information on criminals.
Morapedi also said that another disturbing issue is the continuing smuggling of millions of cigarettes through ungazetted points into the country.
“We continue to experience cigarette smuggling into the country through the ungazzetted points,” he added.
However, Morapedi, said that there have been great concerns when drugs were confiscated from students at different schools in Francistown. He added that the public needs to play a more pivotal role in helping the police with information on drug dealers in their areas.
“Lately there is a rising concern of drug abuse, especially marijuana and cocaine, which are increasingly being taken by students and unemployed youths,” he said.
Morapedi told the Sunday Standard that although they, as DNS, have tried to come up with strategies to address the situation by reaching out to schools and the public on drugs, trafficking and abuse of drugs seem to be growing at an alarming rate.
