LIQUOR SMUGGLING RISES DESPITE ALCOHOL BAN

With liquor shops closed countrywide amid an alcohol sales ban, liquor bottles and quarts are being smuggled from neighbouring countries.

The national booze prohibition has resulted in a rise in the illicit alcohol trade currently keeping the police on their toes as the ban reaches the second month. The illicit alcohol trade has given rise to a thriving black market as police battle with the sale.

Police across stations in Greater Gaborone told The Monitor, the ban has resulted in a majority of people resorting to illicit beers to get around the prohibition and beat the blues.

They revealed to have established a syndicate of local and foreign nationals who continue to invade the country smuggling illicit alcohol.

However, the police have revealed to have strengthened border patrols and the search for illegal possession of alcohol contrabands smuggled across the neighbouring borders, as alcohol remains galore.

Mogoditshane Police Station commander, superintendent Russ Letsebe told The Monitor they continue to arrest and charge people daily for possession of large quantities of illicit alcohol.

“We are battling with the rise in illicit alcohol trade as we continue to seize bottles of alcohol suspected to have been smuggled into the country,” he said.

“Evidence is galore that there is a free flow of alcoholic beverages. As no day goes by without arresting suspected illicit alcohol suppliers and alcohol imbibers in possession of alcohol.”

Letsebe said to show that alcohol is galore, drivers are also charged daily for drunken driving in Greater Gaborone. He further stated that this weekend a man suspected to be a supplier was charged after he was found in possession of illicit alcohol worth P30,000.

He stated they suspect that there is a thriving syndicate that deals in the illicit alcohol trade because the illegal beers they intercept are unfamiliar.

For his part, Pitsane Molopo Police Station commander, superintendent Thusego Kenyafetse echoed Letsebe’s remarks stating that smuggling of illicit alcohol across the border remains a concern.

Kenyafetse said they have been battling with the scourge for quite some time now, something which shows that the demand for alcohol is high.

“We continue to arrest people suspected to be illicit alcohol suppliers in possession of a large number of bottles of brandy and Black Label quarts suspected to have been smuggled from South Africa,” he said.

“This shows that the demand for alcohol is high as we continue to arrest people in possession of alcohol heading towards Greater Gaborone.”