Pretoria – A 60-year-old Mpumalanga woman, Mavis Themba Hlungwane who was previously sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for dealing in drugs, has been arrested on fresh charges.
Hlungwane was arrested by members of the Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation based in Secunda, the Mpumalanga provincial crime intelligence unit and the Ermelo crime intelligence unit on Sunday.
Mpumalanga spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said Hlungwane was charged for possession and dealing in drugs.
“Information was received about a shipment of drugs which was delivered at the bottle store of the well-known drug dealer in Standerton. A disruptive search and seizure operation was conducted at the identified address,” Sekgotodi said.
“Upon the search, drugs including nyaope, mandrax and dagga with an estimated street value of more than R100 000 were confiscated. The accused (Hlungwane) was detained and taken to court on Monday.”
Sekgotodi said during preliminary investigations, it was established that the Hlungwane has been previously arrested, several times since 1997 for possession and dealing in drugs.
It has been established that in October 1997, Hlungwane was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the crime of possession and dealing in drugs.
On Monday, Hlungwane’s fresh case was postponed to Thursday, for formal bail application.
In November, a 37-year-old prison female prison warder appeared in the Witbank Magistrate’s Court for allegedly dealing in drugs.
Prison warder, Tinyiko Claudia Mathebula, based at Paxton correctional services in Witbank, was arrested by a joint police team during an early morning raid.
At the time, Sekgotodi said the court released Mathebula on R3 000 bail, and postponed the case to January 27 for further investigation.
“Mathebula was nabbed by members of the Hawks serious organised crime investigation team in Mpumalanga together with Dog Unit (K9) Middelburg and Crime Intelligence Witbank for contravention of the Drug and Drugs Trafficking Act” said Sekgotodi.
“The joint police team swiftly acted on information received about the prison warden who was allegedly dealing in drugs.”
A search warrant was obtained and executed at Mathebula’s house.
IOL