Case against record cocaine courier suspect postponed

THE case against a young Angolan woman who faces a charge of dealing in cocaine after a record quantity of the drug was allegedly found in her luggage at the Hosea Kutako International Airport was again postponed in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Nicola Basenga (22) on Friday made her second court appearance following her arrest at the airport on May 24. Her case was postponed to September 30 for further investigations to be done, and also for her to apply for legal aid in preparation for her expected trial.Magistrate Claudia Claasen informed Basenga of her rights to legal representation, whereafter Basenga indicated that she wished to apply to be provided with a defence lawyer by the Legal Aid Directorate.The Police are claiming that Basenga was arrested after customs officials at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, during a routine search of passengers’ luggage, noticed that some 112 shirts that she had with her in three large suitcases seemed to have extra padding in the cardboard stiffeners that were inserted into each shirt.When these were investigated, the officials found that the cardboards contained a white powder, immediately suspected to be cocaine.According to the Namibian Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit an eventual search of all the shirts that Basenga is claimed to have brought into Namibia on a flight from Johannesburg revealed that about 21 kilograms of suspected cocaine had been hidden inside the cardboard pieces.That would make Basenga the person to have been arrested with the largest quantity of cocaine that the Police had yet found in Namibia on any single occasion.Basenga is claimed to have arrived in Namibia after she had first flown from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Johannesburg.She will remain in custody until her next court appearance, she was also told on Friday.Her case was postponed to September 30 for further investigations to be done, and also for her to apply for legal aid in preparation for her expected trial.Magistrate Claudia Claasen informed Basenga of her rights to legal representation, whereafter Basenga indicated that she wished to apply to be provided with a defence lawyer by the Legal Aid Directorate.The Police are claiming that Basenga was arrested after customs officials at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, during a routine search of passengers’ luggage, noticed that some 112 shirts that she had with her in three large suitcases seemed to have extra padding in the cardboard stiffeners that were inserted into each shirt.When these were investigated, the officials found that the cardboards contained a white powder, immediately suspected to be cocaine.According to the Namibian Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit an eventual search of all the shirts that Basenga is claimed to have brought into Namibia on a flight from Johannesburg revealed that about 21 kilograms of suspected cocaine had been hidden inside the cardboard pieces.That would make Basenga the person to have been arrested with the largest quantity of cocaine that the Police had yet found in Namibia on any single occasion.Basenga is claimed to have arrived in Namibia after she had first flown from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Johannesburg.She will remain in custody until her next court appearance, she was also told on Friday.