A rogue police officer got more than he bargained for after helping a dagga dealing syndicate, ending up behind bars himself.
Tafara Poterai, a 43-year-old cop stationed at Nyanyadzi Police Station, was allegedly used by the drug gang as a “clean skin” to transport their stash of marijuana from Chipinge rural to buyers.
Poterai and gang member Patrick Ganyau, who drove the syndicate’s getaway car, both pleaded not guilty in court. But two other accused drug dealers Cleopas Mudyiwa and Moses Chibvongodze pleaded guilty.
Mudyiwa arranged to sell 12 buckets of dagga to undercover detectives in Mutare who were posing as buyers. He then hired Ganyau’s pirate taxi to collect the drugs from Chibvongodze’s homestead.
Sources say Poterai was picked up along the way and introduced as a “police officer on roadblock duty” to help them avoid any stops.
But when the gang arrived to finalise the sale, the “buyers” revealed themselves as real police and arrested the whole bunch, seizing 25.5kg of dagga worth over US$400.
While Mudyiwa and Chibvongodze were jailed for 3 years, Poterai and Ganyau were denied bail and will reappear in court next month to face the music for their alleged role in the syndicate.
The dagga dealing cop’s plan to use his uniform and connections to help the gang has backfired spectacularly, landing him and his accomplices in hot water instead.
