Lack of drug standards hinder investigations, police say
Police destroys 412 kg of cocaine
The absence of a drug standard in Namibia delays drug investigations.
Yesterday, Commissioner Nelius Becker of the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute (NPFSI) and his team disposed of a massive cocaine consignment worth N$206 million.
During the event, the police highlighted several hurdles that prolong drug-related investigation processes.
Becker said the destroyed consignment originated from a major bust at the Walvis Bay port in 2018.
"Since last year October, and even a year before this, we cannot do any analysis on cocaine because the National Police of Namibia are having problems importing drug standards into the country. This is a minute amount of pure drugs, in layman's terms, used for analysis to establish what drug we are dealing with," Becker explained.
"We have been struggling to get a permit or licence from the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council (NMRC) to be able to bring the standard into the country and store it in our facility," Becker told Namibian Sun.
Old cases
The destroyed cocaine consignment originated in a case in which two Walvis Bay residents, Grant Noble and Dinath Azhar, were caught smuggling 412 kilograms of cocaine. The local street-market value of the seized drugs was approximately N$206 million in 2018.
In October 2022, High Court judge Orben Sibeya sentenced the pair to 12 years in prison each.
According to Becker, the absence of a drug standard in Namibia prolongs several drug-related cases for years, even though it only takes one day to carry out the test.
"There is one supplier of these standards in South Africa and we could not get them to deliver a performance guarantee to us so that we could make an advance payment, which they insisted on," Becker said.
"We are a credible institution, part of the Namibian government. Currently, the health ministry is trying to generate an order for us, but we are at the end of the financial year, with little hope that this will happen soon," he added.
No timeline
The health ministry's executive director Ben Nangombe told Namibian Sun that the ministry is in the process of procuring the drug standard and bringing it to Namibia.
"We had an engagement and informed the Medicines Council to make provision for the funds so that the Forensics Institute could get the standard," Nangombe explained.
Other challenges were encountered with the supplier in South Africa, Nangombe said.
"The forensics team then asked the ministry to step in again and assist with the procurement, and so we saw that the law in Namibia indeed makes provision for us to procure that specific standard. The process is still ongoing. Authorisation for the procurement has been granted, but we don't have a timeline for when it will be done," he said.
Becker said at the moment, they only dispose of drugs once a year but would ideally like to start doing so after every drug-related case has been closed.
Becker revealed that the Forensics Institute made a payment of N$137 000 to the health ministry to procure the standard, which consists of several drug testing specimens.
During the event, the police highlighted several hurdles that prolong drug-related investigation processes.
Becker said the destroyed consignment originated from a major bust at the Walvis Bay port in 2018.
"Since last year October, and even a year before this, we cannot do any analysis on cocaine because the National Police of Namibia are having problems importing drug standards into the country. This is a minute amount of pure drugs, in layman's terms, used for analysis to establish what drug we are dealing with," Becker explained.
"We have been struggling to get a permit or licence from the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council (NMRC) to be able to bring the standard into the country and store it in our facility," Becker told Namibian Sun.
Old cases
The destroyed cocaine consignment originated in a case in which two Walvis Bay residents, Grant Noble and Dinath Azhar, were caught smuggling 412 kilograms of cocaine. The local street-market value of the seized drugs was approximately N$206 million in 2018.
In October 2022, High Court judge Orben Sibeya sentenced the pair to 12 years in prison each.
According to Becker, the absence of a drug standard in Namibia prolongs several drug-related cases for years, even though it only takes one day to carry out the test.
"There is one supplier of these standards in South Africa and we could not get them to deliver a performance guarantee to us so that we could make an advance payment, which they insisted on," Becker said.
"We are a credible institution, part of the Namibian government. Currently, the health ministry is trying to generate an order for us, but we are at the end of the financial year, with little hope that this will happen soon," he added.
No timeline
The health ministry's executive director Ben Nangombe told Namibian Sun that the ministry is in the process of procuring the drug standard and bringing it to Namibia.
"We had an engagement and informed the Medicines Council to make provision for the funds so that the Forensics Institute could get the standard," Nangombe explained.
Other challenges were encountered with the supplier in South Africa, Nangombe said.
"The forensics team then asked the ministry to step in again and assist with the procurement, and so we saw that the law in Namibia indeed makes provision for us to procure that specific standard. The process is still ongoing. Authorisation for the procurement has been granted, but we don't have a timeline for when it will be done," he said.
Becker said at the moment, they only dispose of drugs once a year but would ideally like to start doing so after every drug-related case has been closed.
Becker revealed that the Forensics Institute made a payment of N$137 000 to the health ministry to procure the standard, which consists of several drug testing specimens.
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