Gardener arrested for planting mbanje

A 36-year-old gardener has been arrested on allegations of planting mbanje at his employer’s house in Emerald Hill, Harare.

Bonface Chaunza was arrested on Wednesday morning by police following a tip off and was found with about six plants of mbanje with an average height of two metres in the yard.

When he was questioned, Chaunza admitted to planting and smoking mbanje before he led police to a shopping centre where they arrested another woman, Violet Chiswe (47) who was found with about 20 sachets of mbanje which she was selling.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the two are assisting with investigations.

“Following his arrest, the suspect who is a gardener at the premises led detectives to Ashbrittle Shops, where detectives nabbed Violet Chiswe aged 47 and recovered 20 sachets of prepared dagga from her.

“The suspect was selling the dagga at her vending stall,” he said.

Recently, police arrested a man in Bulawayo after he attempted to drive off a commuter omnibus operating under the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) before recovering 181kg of mbanje at a road block.

Sylvester Phiri was a passenger in the commuter omnibus which had been stopped by the police along the Gweru-Zvishavane Road.

The driver of the kombi, Dickson Nyagotsi fled the scene during the scuffle and a manhunt has since been launched for him.

Another 34-year-old man was arrested after allegedly being found in possession of 259kg of mbanje.

Tatenda Spinyu was reportedly in the company of three colleagues, along the Harare-Hwedza road when they approached a police checkpoint mounted at the 105km peg along the same road. Realising they could be searched at the check point, they made a U-turn and drove away at high speed.

Alert police officers became suspicious and gave chase.

The driver of the Ford Ranger vehicle lost control and it veered off the road, overturned and landed on its roof. Three occupants then abandoned the car and fled.

A search was conducted and about 10 sacks of mbanje were recovered, leading to Spinyu’s arrest. Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officers from Marondera and Marondera police traffic, together with the canine section attended the scene.