A POLICE officer stationed at Buchwa in the Midlands province was on Friday last week acquitted of allegedly conniving with drug syndicates to collect some drugs from India while he was on leave.
Harrisom Muzarawetu (35) was represented by Progress Maringamoyo when he appeared before Harare Magistrates Marehwanazvo Gofa.
Gofa said the recovery of Muzarawetu’s passport was not strong enough to hold a case against him, while ruling out that despite Muzarawetu having been involved in drugs, no drugs were found on him when he was arrested.
The magistrate further indicated that Oshilla Chikwena, who was found with the passport, had also indicated that she was not involved in drugs, but was in the business of lending people money and the passport was held as surety.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti had alleged that sometime in 2019, Muzarawetu met Chikwena who was the alleged focal person in Zimbabwe for a foreign drug syndicate and agreed to be sent to India to collect some Ephedrine drugs.
The drugs were to be forwarded to a drug kingpin in South Africa once Muzarawetu had brought them into the country.
The court also heard that Muzarawetu gave his passport to Chikwena who helped him process the Indian visa which was valid from March 15, 2019 to April 14, 2019.
It was also alleged that to facilitate his movement to India, Muzarawetu then applied for an urgent vacation leave from March 19, 2019, to April 15, 2019, on the pretext that he wanted to attend to his sick wife.
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Muzarawetu then went to New Delhi, India on April 7, 2019 through Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and came back on April 15, 2019, through the same airport. Muzarawetu allegedly left the country without permission from the police commissioner-general as required by regulations.
On April 6, 2021 information was received at CID Drugs and Narcotics Harare that Chikwena was dealing in dangerous drugs and that she was the focal person in Zimbabwe for an international drug syndicate.
The following day, searches were conducted at Chikwena’s house in Manyame Park, Chitungwiza and drugs which included crystal meth and cocaine were seized from the house.
Muzarawetu’s passport was recovered from Chikwena’s bedroom along with three other passports. All the passports had multiple entry Indian visas valid from December 3, 2020 to February 2, 2021.
Chikwena told the police that she sent Muzarawetu to India to collect drugs and paid him R15 000 after bringing the drugs into the country. Checks were made which confirmed that Muzarawetu travelled to India in 2019, leading to his arrest at his work station.
