A SENIOR court clerk accused of stealing 24 kilogrammes of cocaine has said rats were eating exhibits of the illicit drug and he reported this to his supervisors. Didier Kangwa said in court that he was surprised that while police were still investigating the handling of exhibits at the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers arrested him for alleged trafficking of the missing cocaine. Kangwa, 41, further told the court in his defence that he was just implicated in the matter and that the charges levelled against him were fabricated by the prosecution. This is in a case in which Kangwa, four court interpreters and two businessmen are facing five counts of trafficking in 24 kilogrammes of cocaine which was kept as exhibits but went missing at the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court.
The accused businessmen are Eric Chipango and Emmanuel Chimba, while the court interpreters are Emmanuel Chirwa, Mathews Mukanda, Victor Nzaila and Obrian Muyanda. They are charged with five counts of trafficking in narcotic substances and theft by servant. They allegedly committed the offences between April 2017 and September 2018. They are also accused of trafficking in 80.11 grammes of cocaine and another count of trafficking in one kilogramme of the narcotic drug. Opening his unsworn defence on Wednesday before Magistrate Victoria Chitulangoma, Kangwa said in August 2017, he received cocaine exhibits for a case in which businessman Sydney Mwansa was accused of trafficking in 24 kilogrammes of cocaine. He said the lawsuit against Mwansa was being handled by then chief resident magistrate Kenneth Mulife, who is now a judge, while Chirwa was the interpreter in that court.
“In 2018, there were reshuffles and Florence Mushoka and Daphen Mwanja took over from Chirwa. Mr Mwanja was also in charge of collecting exhibits,” Kangwa said. In February 2018, Kangwa discovered that the 24 kilogrammes of cocaine exhibits were being eaten by rats. “I called Mr Mwanja and Ms Mushoka and asked them what was happening to the exhibits, which were 24 packs of cocaine,” Kangwa said. He later reported the matter to Magistrate Mulife, who advised him to put the report in writing. Kangwa then wrote to Ms Mushoka and Mr Mwanja but that he was not satisfied with Mr Mwanja’s response.
“I reported back to Magistrate Mulife and after the matter was dealt with administratively, we found Mr Mwanja’s explanation to be unreasonable. “After further inquiries from other interpreters, we learnt that most of them had problems regarding exhibits, especially drugs,” he said. Kangwa said Magistrate Mulife later called for a meeting to discuss the handling of drug exhibits at the court. During the meeting, Kangwa was concerned that the court officials had been receiving drug exhibits which were not weighed and that they never understood how to handle them. “We agreed that we needed independent investigations into the possibility of swapping of drugs. Magistrate Mulife told me to write a comprehensive report, which I did. I was told to report the matter to the police for further investigations,” Kangwa said. On August 21, 2018, Kangwa reported the matter to the police and later informed DEC about it. “On September 6, 2018, I heard rumours that Chirwa had been arrested,” Kangwa said.
He said some DEC officers later went to the magistrate’s complex to ask for Mr Mwanja and Bearvan Mengo, a court interpreter who was discharged in the case, for interviews. Kangwa said he was also later arrested by DEC over alleged trafficking in 80.11 grammes of cocaine and theft of 24 kilogrammes of the drug.
He said he was shocked that DEC officers arrested him while police were still investigating the matter. Kangwa said the charges against him are fabricated and that he is just a victim of circumstances in the case. After he concluded his defence, Magistrate Chitulangoma asked why Kangwa chose to ask Ms Mushoka and Mr Mwanja about what was happening to the exhibits if he was convinced that they were being eaten by rats. “It is because I only experienced it after January 31, 2018 when they [Ms Mushoka and Mr Mwanja] handled them [cocaine exhibits],” Kangwa responded. The case was adjourned to April 30.