*No bail for eSwatini suspected drug peddlers
The Francistown Magistrate Court has this morning remanded two eSwatini men on a single count of unlawful possession of illicit substance suspected to be dagga.
The 39-year-old Mphikelele Lucky Mabuza and Sandile Brian Hlamini, together with three Batswana Yotiko Hitika Charuka, Itumeleng Mpofu and Monthusi Elias Ramogerika were arrested by the police on Friday at Mandunyane village with three small packages suspected to be dagga.
Mabuza is a teacher at Ntsinini High School in Swaziland while his countryman, Hlamini is unemployed.
When asked if they had anything to say in court, the eSwatini men distanced themselves from the suspicious package, telling court that their only mission in Botswana was to buy a car.
Securing the order for a further remand, the State Prosecutor Paphidzo Kuda argued that the two men did not have a permanent place of abode in Botswana and that it was their first time in the country.
He pleaded with court to keep the suspects behind bars to allow the state to take the suspected drugs to a forensic lab for testing.
The two eSwatini men remanded in custody while the three Batswana men were granted bail on conditions that they pay P1000 each and bind themselves with two sureties also to pay the same amount.