‘SUSPECTED COCAINE MATTER NEVER REPORTED’

MBABANE – Who is fooling who in the suspected cocaine bust at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security?

This is a question that begs to be answered, following that the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati denied knowledge of the matter.

Vilakati, when contacted by our sister publication the Times SUNDAY, said the matter was not formally reported to her institution despite sources within the ministry reporting that the police were informed and arrived with sniffer dogs to investigate.
This followed that an unknown female reportedly dropped a package of snacks – NikNaks – at the ministry intended for a senior official who was leaving the country for an international trip.

However, the ‘courier’ of the package was a little late as the recipient was already enroute to the King Mswati III International Airport. Given that the female left the package in the care of junior personnel within the ministry.

Informed

The junior personnel, who were referred to as secretaries, were said to have informed the senior officer of the package. In response, he was said to have told them to enjoy it – only for them to discover that there were foreign substances and not snacks.
Thereafter, law enforcers were informed of the suspicious contents and visited the ministry to investigate. In doing so, they took the package with them – which Vilakati disputes.

When contacted yesterday, she maintained the same stance.
“This matter was not formally reported to us; and yes, we saw it in the weekend publications. No police officer was contacted and our sniffer dogs were not sent there.”

However, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Thulani Mkhaliphi, had a different story to tell. He confirmed that the police approached him and sought permission to search the premises of the ministry located at the inter-ministerial complex in Mbabane.
Mkhaliphi said: “I don’t know about the police not being contacted, what I know is that they came here and sought permission to investigate within the offices.”

Investigating

When questioned on whether he personally met the police as the controlling officer – second to the minister in the management of the ministry, Mkhaliphi said he was not controlling drugs. “It is not the only issue they are investigating, they are investigating a person who leaked certain information and I gave them the leeway to carryout their investigations.”

The PS did not want to comment on the processes that the police engaged in during their investigation. Worth noting is that the incident happened last Monday.
Despite having happened eight days ago, the police have claimed being clueless of the said ‘drug bust’. Despite that the people who came into close contact with the said narcotics believed it was a mixture of cocaine, mandrax and a block of compressed dagga; the actual type of the drug is yet to be confirmed by experts.

On the other hand, the senior officer within the ministry when engaged by our sister publication, Times SUNDAY, reportedly acknowledged that he had been brought to speed about the issue.
He was reported to have requested not to engage much on the issue as it was being dealt with by the police.

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