4 to be charged in record ecstasy case, PG decides

THE four people charged in Namibia’s largest ecstasy-dealing case to date heard on Friday that the Prosecutor General has decided to continue with the prosecution against all of them in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.

The Prosecutor General has decided that the four – Nigerian nationals Peter Uche Ugwuangi (30) and Madueke Anselem Chikezie (42), Namibian musician Johannes Felix Shikololo (29), and another Namibian, Emma Mweneni Iitamalo (29) – should face a charge of dealing in dangerous dependence-producing drugs, alternatively possessing such drugs, in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court, they were told when they made their eighth court appearance. Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi postponed their case to this Friday, when a date is supposed to be set for their trial.On October 19 last year, all four pleaded not guilty to dealing in 1 150 ecstasy tablets, valued at N$138 000, in Windhoek on March 3 last year.That is the largest number of ecstasy pills ever seized by the Namibian Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit on any single occasion.The previous record number of ecstasy tablets confiscated by the Police in Namibia was 499 pills, with which someone was caught at a post office in Windhoek in June 2001.When the four suspects pleaded in October last year, Ugwuangi said he knew nothing about the case.He added, though, that the drugs in question had been found in his room, but that one of his co-accused had confirmed that the tablets belonged to him.Chikezie, who was represented by a lawyer, elected to remain silent after pleading not guilty.Shikololo said he was not in the room where the drugs were found, and that he just saw the Police carrying the tablets out of the room.”I don’t know anything about the stuff,” he said, according to the record of their case.According to Iitamalo, she had only been visiting the house in Windhoek North where the drugs were found when the Police arrived and arrested her, too.Shikololo and Iitamalo are free on bail of N$5 000 each.The two Nigerians remain in custody.Magistrate Sarel Jacobs ordered on April 21 last year that they should be kept in custody in Windhoek Central Prison, after he had been told that the investigating officer working on their case had received information that they had tried to bribe Police officers in a bid to arrange an escape for them.The two Nigerians both denied having done so.If they are found guilty, the four face a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment or a fine of N$30 000, or both.For a second or subsequent conviction, they could be sentenced to up to 25 years’ imprisonment, or a fine of N$50 000, or both.The person found in possession of 499 ecstasy tablets six years ago was sentenced to a fine of N$10 000 in April 2002 after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing the illegal drugs.Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi postponed their case to this Friday, when a date is supposed to be set for their trial.On October 19 last year, all four pleaded not guilty to dealing in 1 150 ecstasy tablets, valued at N$138 000, in Windhoek on March 3 last year.That is the largest number of ecstasy pills ever seized by the Namibian Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit on any single occasion.The previous record number of ecstasy tablets confiscated by the Police in Namibia was 499 pills, with which someone was caught at a post office in Windhoek in June 2001.When the four suspects pleaded in October last year, Ugwuangi said he knew nothing about the case.He added, though, that the drugs in question had been found in his room, but that one of his co-accused had confirmed that the tablets belonged to him.Chikezie, who was represented by a lawyer, elected to remain silent after pleading not guilty.Shikololo said he was not in the room where the drugs were found, and that he just saw the Police carrying the tablets out of the room.”I don’t know anything about the stuff,” he said, according to the record of their case.According to Iitamalo, she had only been visiting the house in Windhoek North where the drugs were found when the Police arrived and arrested her, too.Shikololo and Iitamalo are free on bail of N$5 000 each.The two Nigerians remain in custody.Magistrate Sarel Jacobs ordered on April 21 last year that they should be kept in custody in Windhoek Central Prison, after he had been told that the investigating officer working on their case had received information that they had tried to bribe Police officers in a bid to arrange an escape for them.The two Nigerians both denied having done so.If they are found guilty, the four face a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment or a fine of N$30 000, or both.For a second or subsequent conviction, they could be sentenced to up to 25 years’ imprisonment, or a fine of N$50 000, or both.The person found in possession of 499 ecstasy tablets six years ago was sentenced to a fine of N$10 000 in April 2002 after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing the illegal drugs.