Student in court on cocaine charge

AN Angolan student, who last week became the first person to be arrested in Namibia on a charge of trying to smuggle cocaine into the country by hiding it in human hair, made a first court appearance in Windhoek on Friday.

Claudio dos Santos, who according to the Police is a student at the University of Namibia, appeared before Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura on a charge of illegally dealing in cocaine. His case was postponed to August 2 for further investigation, and he was told that he would remain in Police custody until the matter returned to court.Dos Santos was arrested on Wednesday last week at Hosea Kutako International Airport outside Windhoek.The Police are alleging that he had gone to the airport to pick up luggage that was supposedly registered under the name of his mother, who is claimed to have visited São Paulo in Brazil last month.It was discovered, however, that the baggage contained 76 packets of human hair – used as hair extensions in the hairstyling trade – that also contained a yet to be determined quantity of cocaine, the Police are claiming.It is suspected that the hair had been soaked in a solution of cocaine as part of a plan in which the hair, having absorbed the cocaine in the solution, was to serve as a cunning hiding place for the alleged drugs, Detective Chief Inspector Barry de Klerk of the Namibian Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit told The Namibian on Thursday.His case was postponed to August 2 for further investigation, and he was told that he would remain in Police custody until the matter returned to court.Dos Santos was arrested on Wednesday last week at Hosea Kutako International Airport outside Windhoek.The Police are alleging that he had gone to the airport to pick up luggage that was supposedly registered under the name of his mother, who is claimed to have visited São Paulo in Brazil last month.It was discovered, however, that the baggage contained 76 packets of human hair – used as hair extensions in the hairstyling trade – that also contained a yet to be determined quantity of cocaine, the Police are claiming.It is suspected that the hair had been soaked in a solution of cocaine as part of a plan in which the hair, having absorbed the cocaine in the solution, was to serve as a cunning hiding place for the alleged drugs, Detective Chief Inspector Barry de Klerk of the Namibian Police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit told The Namibian on Thursday.