Shock as E1m dagga found in school

DAGGA worth over E1 million was found at Themba Primary School, leading to three arrests on Thursday.

It is said several police vehicles descended upon the public school that has been without an administrator.

The illicit herb was allegedly stashed in several bags in one of the houses at the school’s teachers’ quarters, located close to the borderline separating the southern tip of the kingdom with northern KwaZulu-Natal, in the Sivule precinct of Hluti.

This newspaper understands that the police were acting on intelligence when they conducted a search on the premises of the elementary school at around 6pm on Thursday.

Upon conducting a search on a motor vehicle found at the quarters, police discovered several bags of dagga, weighing 155.5kg.

This amounted to 18 bags, which police confiscated and subsequently handed over to the Hluti Police Station. The intercepted dagga had a potential street value of E1 million.

“About 18 bags of dagga were discovered and two women aged 29 and 21, alongside a male aged 34, were arrested,” said a witness.

An investigation is ongoing after two occupants apparently evaded arrest.

Information gathered was that the teacher who was allocated the house was away when the police arrived.

A witness claimed only five occupants were present, and police were only able to apprehend three, while the remaining two allegedly fled on foot.

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A senior teacher who is holding down the fort at the school, in the absence of a substantive administrator, Primrose Mngometulu, confirmed the incident. She said she was shocked that their houses could store so much dagga without their knowledge.

“What’s worse is that the house occupant is not around. However, I have spoken to the teacher allocated the house. He told me he was away when the dagga was found. At the time of our conversation on Friday morning, he was on his way to the police station to find out what happened,” she narrated.

Mngometulu expressed deep concern over rampant crime in the area, blaming the situation on the school’s close proximity to the borderline fence.

“There is a lot of criminal activity around here. Teachers’ valuables get stolen and unscrupulous individuals take advantage of our close proximity to the borderline and hide their stuff to ‘cool off’ before it is smuggled across the fence into neighbouring South Africa,” she said.

A police officer also confirmed that criminals had lately found a safety net in schools, using them to hide contraband and dagga.

The discovery of the dagga consignment at Themba Primary School was confirmed by Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni.

Shiselweni Regional Education Officer Siboniso Gumbi said he was yet to receive a report on the incident.

The dagga bust comes hot on the heels of the arrest of a local citizen who was caught smuggling the herb from Eswatini to Ermelo in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

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