Cocaine Trader Appears in Court

Munyaradzi Mashiri

Court Correspondent

A man allegedly caught with 23 grams of cocaine appeared in court facing charges of unlawful possession of dangerous drugs.

Tatenda Rusere, of Ushewekunze, stood before Harare Magistrate Apollonia Marutya and was remanded in custody.

The State, represented by prosecutor Tinotenda Masimba, alleged that detectives from the CID Drugs and Narcotics Unit in Harare received a tip-off on January 24, claiming Rusere was in possession of cocaine and actively distributing it across greater Harare.

Acting on the information, detectives posed as potential buyers and contacted Rusere. He directed them to meet him in the Ushewekunze Chigwende area.

The detectives proceeded to the agreed location and intercepted Rusere, who was driving an unregistered silver Toyota Axio along Rosemary Road. Upon stopping the vehicle, the officers identified themselves.

At the time, Rusere was reportedly holding a transparent plastic bag in his left hand, which he attempted to discard. The detectives quickly recovered the bag, which contained a white substance suspected to be cocaine.

During a body search, officers found another plastic bag with suspected cocaine in Rusere's left jeans pocket. A search of his vehicle revealed additional items, including a black digital scale and several small plastic bags commonly used for drug packaging.

Rusere was subsequently arrested and taken to the CID Drugs and Narcotics headquarters for further processing.

A field test conducted on the seized substances using Mobilab test kits confirmed the presence of cocaine. The drugs were weighed in Rusere's presence, amounting to 23 grams with an estimated street value of ZWL$41 400.

Rusere remains in custody as investigations continue.