A 74-year-old woman is expected to appear before the Phuthaditjhaba Magistrate Court on Tuesday on a charge of dealing in drugs.
She was arrested on Sunday after the police raided her home in Qwaqwa where they recovered an unspecified amount of nyaope, a street drug that is ravaging poor communities across South Africa.
The drug is a mixture of low-grade heroin, cannabis products, antiretroviral medicines and other materials added as bulking agents.
The elderly woman was implicated in the peddling of the drug after the police had earlier on the same day arrested a 24-year-old man found with some nyaope on him while aboard a local taxi.
“Her arrest came through the arrest of a young man who was intercepted inside a taxi at the Naledi shopping complex . . . The police monitored the suspect after he took a taxi, they followed, stopped and searched the taxi (and) upon searching the taxi, members found 96 small plastic bags of drugs (nyaope),” a regional police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring, said in a statement.
Later that day, the police visited a house at Boiketlo Village where they found the 74-year-old woman suspected of dealing in drugs.
“During a search of her home, police discovered stacks of cash and drugs,” Mophiring said.
The pensioner will also face an additional charge after she allegedly attempted to buy her freedom by offering a bribe to the police officers who arrested her.
“She gave a stash of money to three police officers, telling them not to arrest her but to take the money and leave,” Mophiring said.
“The police informed her that bribing a police officer is a serious offense and another charge will be added against her.
“The police seized small plastic bags containing nyaope and cash.” – Staff Reporter