Angolan acquitted on cocaine charges

AN Angolan national who was prosecuted on charges of dealing in or possessing cocaine after more than half a kilogram of the drug was found in the house that he is renting in Windhoek was acquitted in the Windhoek Regional Court on Friday.

In a verdict handed down three days after Angolan national Gastão Ngangu (42) pleaded not guilty to a main charge of dealing in cocaine and an alternative charge of possession of the drug, Magistrate Sarel Jacobs found Ngangu not guilty on both the main and the alternative charge.The Magistrate found that the prosecution did not manage to prove its case against Ngangu beyond a reasonable doubt. It specifically did not prove that Ngangu had an intention to possess the cocaine that was found at his rented house, or that he knew that the cocaine was in the house, the Magistrate found.He also noted that another Angolan, André Antonio Manuel (40), has admitted before Windhoek Regional Court Magistrate Dinnah Usiku that the cocaine found at Ngangu’s house had been in his possession after he had brought the drugs into Namibia in shoes that he brought with him after visiting Brazil. While this admission by Manuel does not exclude the possibility that Ngangu may also have been involved in the possession of the cocaine, it also strengthens Ngangu’s claim that he did not play any role in the possession of the drugs, the Magistrate said.Ngangu and Manuel were both arrested after members of the Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit raided a house on Best Street in Windhoek West on July 30.During Ngangu’s one-day trial last week Magistrate Jacobs was told that one of the Police officers discovered a parcel of cocaine, which was wrapped in plastic, hidden under the water in the bowl of a toilet in the house.The cocaine weighed 530 grams and had a local street market value of about N$265 000.Two pairs of women’s shoes of which the rubber soles had been hollowed out were also found at the house.During his trial before Magistrate Usiku Manuel claimed that he discovered cocaine in the shoes after a friend had asked him to bring the shoes with him from Brazil and to deliver it to the friend’s wife in Angola.During his own trial, Ngangu told Magistrate Jacobs that Manuel is a friend of his who was staying at the house on Best Street since July 27. Ngangu claimed that he was not aware that Manuel had brought cocaine with him when he travelled from Brazil to Namibia, via Zambia.Manuel was sentenced to an effective prison term of two years and to pay a fine of N$15 000 or serve a further three-year jail term on August 13.Ngangu was kept in custody for three weeks after his arrest, until he was granted bail of N$5 000 on August 21.Defence lawyer Boris Isaacks represented Ngangu during his trial. Public Prosecutor OJ Lino prosecuted.Ngangu and Manuel are among more than a dozen Angolan citizens to have been arrested in Namibia so far this year on cocaine trafficking charges. Unlike Ngangu and Manuel, though, most of the other suspects are accused of having brought cocaine into Namibia in swallowed capsules inside their intestines.