Durban man in court after R2.2m drug bust in Beaufort West
|Published
A Durban man, who appeared last week in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court charged with dealing in drugs worth R2.2 million, had his case postponed to this morning after a hitch with his legal representation. File picture.
Cape Town - A Durban man, who appeared last week in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court charged with dealing in drugs worth R2.2 million, had his case postponed to this morning after a hitch with his legal representation.
The case was postponed on Friday last week to allow the accused to apply for a Legal Aid lawyer as he indicated in court that he did not have the money to appoint a private attorney.
On Monday, however, NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “The Legal Aid attorney did not come on record but a private attorney will come on record on Tuesday (today) if he has financial instructions.
“Therefore the case is postponed for legal representation and to arrange a date for a formal bail application.”
On Friday, he said, the State did not have the accused’s criminal records but once they were available it would decide whether to oppose bail or not. The accused will remain in custody.
The accused was arrested during an operation by police and traffic officials near Beaufort West just more than a month ago.
At the time police said the accused had been the first passenger to board a bus at the Durban beachfront in KZN that was headed for the Western Cape.
The bus (name withheld) made several stops along the way to pick up or offload passengers. When the bus was stopped at a roadblock at the weighbridge in Beaufort West, police began a routine inspection and to check for illegal substances.
A sniffer dog reacted positively to the presence of drugs in one of the bags in the luggage compartment and found the man’s name on a tag attached to the bag.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za