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drug abuse has never been a major problem in Zimbabwe. Because of the high cost of hard drugs like cocaine, crystal meth and heroin coupled with the unavailability of a ready market in the country, many ordinary Zimbabweans led clean and healthy lives.

But a new problem is emerging.

Substance abuse is slowly tearing Zimbabwe’s social fabric apart and if not nipped in the bud, many could end up addicts.

Just a fortnight ago, two South Africa-based truck drivers were fined R15 000 (about $1 252) each for smuggling “Bronco”, and an assortment of flea market wares worth R150 000 (about $13 000) into the country through the Beitbridge Border Post.

The intercepted Bronco totalled 797 boxes each containing 50 bottles, and this is worrying.

Many other cough syrups and prescription drugs like pills, mostly smuggled into the country through porous ports of entry, have become drugs of choice for most youths and the older generation in high-density areas countrywide.

The abuse of cough syrups, particularly BronCleer, also known as Bronco, is popular with youths of both sexes between the ages of 15 and35 in urban areas.

With a ready market in Harare, the cough mixture has changed the lives of many, for the worst.

Kingpins who smuggle the cough mixture sell it to customers including vagrants, commuter omnibus crews, and just about anyone.

Well-orchestrated smuggling syndicates originating from neighbouring South Africa and Botswana have fuelled the increase.

Investigations by The Herald revealed that Bronco is smuggled into country disguised as transit cargo.

What makes it easy is that transit cargo is not searched at the ports of entry and can only be inspected by authorities at its intended destination.

Busy ports of entry like Beitbridge and Plumtree border posts are being used by kingpins.

A senior customs officer at Beitbridge Border Post said the smugglers had devised several ways to beat the anti-smuggling system.

“Most of these import it (Bronco) in transit buses or trucks. They offload their loot in Zimbabwe.

“In other cases the cough syrup is repackaged into 20-litre containers and shipped into the country disguised as used cooking oil or oil and at times diesel,” he said.

Some smugglers also hide the drugs underneath bed bases or in refrigerators.

Sometimes kingpins buy the “feel good drugs” in boxes containing 50 x 50ml bottles and repackage them in 20-litre containers or just mix with groceries.

Others smuggle the Bronco in smaller volumes using buses.

The customs officer at Beitbridge Border Post said: “Those who use buses and trucks are a problem. The containers are very small and easy to hide. We have intercepted many bus and truck drivers carrying the cough syrup in secret compartments or among groceries or in sealed fridges.”

An officer with the Ferret Squad, a crack anti-smuggling force made up of authorities from ZIMRA, immigration and security agents operating in the area who chose anonymity, said:

“We have intercepted a number of people smuggling the cough syrup into the country through the Limpopo River.

“Our investigations show that the largest chunk of mixture is coming in through that route. We are, however, carrying out frequent operations to intercept smugglers.”

Investigations by The Herald also revealed that some of the smugglers engaged customs officials at the border to facilitate the importation of the illegal cough mixture.

A 50ml bottle of Bronco is sold for around R30 in South Africa and for between $2,50 and $3 on Harare’s streets.

In Harare, one of the kingpins is a woman who has turned her Mufakose home into a warehouse.

She smuggles Bronco from Botswana through one of the smaller ports of entry in Plumtree.

Adriana (not her real name) said: “I have contacts and I do not worry about security anymore. I just travel to South Africa through Beitbridge, order my stuff and load a truck to Botswana. I then come back home through Botswana and wait for my contraband just after the border.

“It isn’t difficult to take it across the SA-Botswana border because it is marked differently and stamped “transit”.

“From Botswana the contraband is smuggled by the same trucks into Zimbabwe.

“The drivers have their friends at the border. They clear while I wait on the Zimbabwean side. We then head for Harare at night.

“I initially used buses but it became risky as Zimra officers would mount roadblocks along the way,” she said.

In Harare, the contraband is offloaded at her house, still in the dead of the night.

There is no room for error.

Everything is done swiftly.

She also has runners who work for when when she travels.

“I sell a box of 50 for $70. That is quite good profit as the landing cost is between $30 and $35 for each box. Those who order from me go on to sell each bottle for between $2,50 and $3 or $120 and $150 a box,” she said.

Adriana has a ready Bronco market in Harare and sells only to regular clients. She only sells in bulk.

She said once in a while she has encounters with the police claiming that she pays them a small bribe.

What happens to her customers like Brian of Mbare is not her worry; she is only interested in getting money.

Brian, a 29-year-old tout from Shawasha Hostels in Mbare has been drinking Bronco for over five months now.

“It makes me high. I feel the world belongs to me. I can do anything,” he said.

But his friend, Marlon (26), fears for Brian’s well-being.

“He eats sweet things all the time when he is not drinking Bronco. He can suck a lollipop, then chocolate and biscuits. He also has moments when he just ‘freezes’ when I am talking to him. He looks thinner and thinner each day. His wife of four years left him because of Bronco,” he said.

The situation is different in other border towns.

A visit to the country’s border areas with Mozambique last week revealed that truck drivers smuggle in Bronco.

Some of the trucks have secret compartments that cannot be easily detected.

Here, such cases are not rampant as Bronco has not yet claimed a big market in the Zimbabwe’s eastern neighbour. Instead, illicit spirits do the job.

Authorities at Forbes Border Post in Mutare say they have not intercepted any huge consignment of Bronco.

In fact, demand for Bronco is still low in the Eastern Highlands as most imbibers have the luxury of buying the less expensive spirits and brands smuggled from across the border in Mozambique.

The spirits, though illegal, are readily available at street corners costing only a dollar for a 250ml plastic bottle.

These include Zed, Boss, Black Cat, Knock Out and Zero Patrao, Soilders and Tentacao.

However, touts still go for Bronco and openly drink at Sakubva Bus Terminus and city centre bus stop.

Those in Machipanda, Mozambique, know of the existence of Bronco though it not big business.

Instead, cases of spirits among them Patrao, Soilders and Tentacao, are displayed and sold in the open for onward transportation to Zimbabwe.

A case of spirits costs 420 meticias, which is about US$12.

“You don’t need to worry about magweja (the mules). For only 370 meticais or $10 for 10 cases, you can easily smuggle your stuff without incident.

“You must travel with them and make sure your contraband is safe. You will only pay them when you arrive in Mutare. Make sure you have money in small denominations in case you meet soldiers on patrol,” said Agusto Sithole, a tuckshop owner in Machipanda at the famous Pamumango Business Cen- tre.

In Nyamapanda, the mules are popularly known as Majorijo and operate between Kuchamano on the Mozambican and Mudzi area in Zimbabwe.

Antonio Ferenando, who smuggles goods across the Zimbabwe-Mozambican border, said they used illegal entry points, although it is dangerous because the area along the border is littered with landmines.

“Things are tough and we have to risk. Sometimes we pass through the legal entry points and are not detected by police and other security agents,” he said.

The police say they are always on the lookout for the source of Bronco in Harare.

Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said they had noted with concern that several youths, especially teenagers, were abusing drugs including Bronco.

“We want to warn people especially teenagers that we will not hesitate to arrest them for abusing drugs.

Not only is it illegal to take such drugs without a prescription by a doctor, but it also affects one’s health,” she said.

Last year Zimbabwe and Botswana agreed to ban imports of the cough syrup from that country.

ZIMRA’s Director of Corporate and Legal Affairs Ms Florence Jambwa said recently that they were intercepting a number of cyclists attempting to smuggle controlled and banned goods into the country.

Ms Jambwa said ZIMRA had come up with a raft of measures to curb the smuggling of goods at Beitbridge Border Post.

Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe spokesperson Mr Richard Rukwata said BronCleer was not registered or approved to be sold in Zimbabwe.

He said the MCAZ was facing problems as people were travelling to Botswana and South Africa to buy BronCleer.

In the two countries, BronCleer is sold over the counter.

Under false pretences that they are authorised to sell it in Zimbabwe, smuggling kingpins procure large quantities of the medicine.

According to leaflet accompanying the bottle, Bronco leads to drowsiness and impaired concentration, which may be aggravated by the simultaneous intake of alcohol or other central nervous system depressant agents.

Known side effects include vomiting, constipation, drowsiness, confusion, dry mouth, sweating, facial flushing, vertigo, bradycardia, palpitations, orthostatic hypotension, hypothermia, restlessness, changes of mood and miosis.