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Daniel Kachere Herald Reporter
A truck driver was arrested yesterday at Murefu Service Station along Simon Mazorodze Road after being found in possession of 181 by 50 boxes of the illicit drug Bron Cleer (Bronco) valued at $21 720.

National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Nyathi confirmed the arrest.

He said the driver is a 36-year-old Zimbabwean who resides in Glen View, but is based in South Africa and was driving a South African registered truck.

Chief Supt Nyathi said the driver was assisting police with the investigations.

“We are still conducting investigations to establish how the contraband came into the country. It is still not clear whether he acted alone or there are other syndicates, the driver is assisting the police with the investigations,” he said.

He, however, warned that any person caught flouting the country’s laws would be severely dealt with according to the law.

In May this year 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 Beitbridge border post.

The duo — Abjay Matabeya (29) and Priviledge Dhliwayo — were employed by Lionsden Freight (Pvt) Ltd of No. 17 Pamona Road in South Africa.

The drivers were contracted by Amos Gura of Marlborough in Harare to ship the contraband into Zimbabwe.

They were intercepted by some alert police detectives when they were about to leave the border post, who then referred the truck to the Zimra Container Depot for physical examination.

A total of 1 578 boxes of Frimax chips, 797 boxes by 50 of Bron Cleer, 1 051 pairs of shoes, one box with handbags, one box with cosmetics, three boxes with undergarments, 12 boxes of satchels, two bales of satchels, two bales of handbags and four bales of hats worth $149 784,72 were in the container. The suspects were then asked to produce customs clearing documents and they failed, but produced recycled documents, resulting in their arrest. Bron Cleer is a cough mixture, which has become a popular hallucination inducement drug among drunkards and the youths.