Police caught a Harare man who tried to buy 2,100 bottles of cough syrup called Broncleer. The police stopped this medicine at a roadblock because people often misuse it as a drug. Rodrick Chambe from Dzivaresekwa Extension faced Magistrate Winifred Tiatara after cops arrested him. Many young people call this medicine "Bronco" and take it wrongly because it contains codeine. This ingredient makes users feel high but can trap them with addiction problems.
Mrs Mandirasa Chigumira explained how police found these medicines. Officers from the drug squad heard a secret message about a Toyota Quantum with South African license plates carrying something suspicious. The van traveled from Bulawayo toward Harare last Tuesday night around 8 o'clock. The police team waited at Kadoma tollgate and stopped the van around 10 at night. They asked questions, and the driver admitted that someone named Chambe planned to collect these bottles in Harare.
Police officers tricked Chambe by telling him to pick up his package at the Exhibition Park along Samora Machel Avenue West. He showed up at around 3 a.m. on April 2, not knowing police waited there ready to grab him. After they arrested him, the officers brought both Chambe and the vehicle to Harare Central Police Station. They searched everywhere inside the van as Chambe watched helplessly nearby.
The search uncovered 42 boxes full of small brown bottles. Each bottle held 100ml of Broncleer cough syrup, which doctors cannot legally prescribe anywhere in Zimbabwe. Street dealers would have paid about US$16,400 for all these medicine bottles. Police officers took everything away as evidence against Chambe. The suspect remained under tight security during the entire process.
Officials passed Chambe and all the seized medicine bottles to special drug investigators from the CID Drugs and Narcotics Division. These experts will handle the next steps of the case against him. The law treats medicine smuggling very seriously because these products hurt many young people across Zimbabwe. Parents worry about easy access to such dangerous substances that can destroy their children's lives through addiction and health problems.
Mrs Mandirasa Chigumira explained how police found these medicines. Officers from the drug squad heard a secret message about a Toyota Quantum with South African license plates carrying something suspicious. The van traveled from Bulawayo toward Harare last Tuesday night around 8 o'clock. The police team waited at Kadoma tollgate and stopped the van around 10 at night. They asked questions, and the driver admitted that someone named Chambe planned to collect these bottles in Harare.
Police officers tricked Chambe by telling him to pick up his package at the Exhibition Park along Samora Machel Avenue West. He showed up at around 3 a.m. on April 2, not knowing police waited there ready to grab him. After they arrested him, the officers brought both Chambe and the vehicle to Harare Central Police Station. They searched everywhere inside the van as Chambe watched helplessly nearby.
The search uncovered 42 boxes full of small brown bottles. Each bottle held 100ml of Broncleer cough syrup, which doctors cannot legally prescribe anywhere in Zimbabwe. Street dealers would have paid about US$16,400 for all these medicine bottles. Police officers took everything away as evidence against Chambe. The suspect remained under tight security during the entire process.
Officials passed Chambe and all the seized medicine bottles to special drug investigators from the CID Drugs and Narcotics Division. These experts will handle the next steps of the case against him. The law treats medicine smuggling very seriously because these products hurt many young people across Zimbabwe. Parents worry about easy access to such dangerous substances that can destroy their children's lives through addiction and health problems.
