Two more suspected cocaine couriers arrested at airports

HOT on the heels of the sentencing of four Angolan drug couriers who were each sent to prison for eight years last week, are another two Angolans that have appeared in court in Windhoek and at Walvis Bay after being arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine into Namibia.

Like the four men who were sentenced in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, the latest two suspected drug mules are also accused of having swallowed dozens of plastic-covered capsules of cocaine in an effort to conceal the drugs while carrying them from Brazil to Namibia.The first suspect was arrested after entering Namibia through Hosea Kutako International Airport on Tuesday, a Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Stephan Nuuyi, told The Namibian on Friday. The Police are claiming that the man had swallowed 84 ‘bullets’ of cocaine, which would have a street market value of about N$500 000 (at a price of N$500 for a gram of cocaine), and was bringing the drugs into Namibia inside his intestines, Nuuyi said.With the alleged drugs having been retrieved from his digestive system, the suspect, Adao De Jesus Ventura Manuel Michinge (35), made a first appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Friday.He is charged with a count of dealing in cocaine, or alternatively, possession of the drug. Michinge’s case was postponed to September 23 for further investigations to be done and for Michinge to get legal representation. He remains in custody in the meantime.Nuuyi also said that another Angolan national was arrested on a drug trafficking charge after he allegedly entered Namibia through Walvis Bay Airport on Wednesday with 50 ‘bullets’ of cocaine in his intestines. The alleged drugs are valued at about N$400 000, Nuuyi said.The suspect, João Demba Ngemba (48), is alleged to have travelled by air from São Paulo in Brazil to Johannesburg and then on to Walvis Bay. Ngemba made a first appearance in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.His case was postponed to August 25 for Ngemba to get legal representation and for the completion of laboratory tests that should determine if the substances allegedly found in Ngemba’s possession were indeed cocaine.Ngemba, too, remains in custody.With the arrest of Michinge and Ngemba, a total of ten Angolan nationals have been caught in Namibia on cocaine trafficking charges so far this year. Seven of the suspects were arrested after entering Namibia through Hosea Kutako International Airport. One was arrested on June 26 in the Caprivi Region, after he had entered Namibia from Zambia through the Wenela Border Post. The other two were arrested after landing at Walvis Bay Airport on flights coming from Johannesburg.