Police in Bulawayo detained three suspects in the neighborhood of Entumbane and seized narcotics including dagga, alcohol, weight-gain pills, and cough syrups. Among the illegal items were drug-inhalation devices, the infamous “rizzler” smoking paper, skin-lightening treatments, and self-defense sprays.
The operation, according to Bulawayo police spokesman Inspector Abednico Ncube, is only one of several that the police is carrying out in the Entumbane suburb. He said that the raid followed the hospitalisation of 17 young people from the neighbourhood after the bought and used drugs from the neighbourhood.
In the Wednesday early morning raid, Elton Ndlovu (37), Asprila Maphosa (23) and Lydia Ndlovu-Mthikhulu (27) were detained. All of the accused have previously been detained for a variety of offences.
Drug and alcohol abuse in Zimbabwe has reportedly increased in the past few years. The reason range from worsening economic conditions to unemployment, and the availability of cheaper but highly intoxicating alcohol. The alcohol is sold in small bottles enabling prices as low as US 50 cents a bottle.
The drugs and cheap alcohol are easily accessible at houses in mostly the density residential suburbs in the country, who peddle them illegally.