Learners claim Panorama dealer sold them cannabis

GLENVISTA – Learners told police officers a volume of short stories at the Mondeor police station, after they were arrested for being in possession of cannabis during a drug search at Glenvista High School.

When speaking to a CHRONICLE reporter at the school, two boys who had admitted being in possession of cannabis before police officers could search their school bags, revealed that the packet of cannabis was bought from a dealer at the Panorama Flee Market after a planned drug bust.

“All the kids who smoke know that cannabis is sold at Panorama Flee Market,” said a grade 9 learner, who was one of the first to be removed from a classroom for possession. The boy claims the dealer, who sells drugs to children, was one of the few who managed to avoid being caught.

A joint operation drug bust was held by Mondeor SAPS, JMPD, Glenvista and Mulbarton Community Forums and D&D Tactical on March 1, where 15 suspects were arrested on charges including possession of drugs, possession of counterfeit DVD’s, drinking in public and assault on Jordi Road, near Panorama Shopping Centre and Panorama Flea market, Mulbarton.

Mondeor police officers had intended to take learners to the station and letting them go with a warning, but officers later decided to charge the boys with possession of illegal substances. The learners who were caught with cigarettes were not taken to the police station, but they did not escape scot-free as their parents were called to the school and told of what had happened.

“We left with the learners and we opened a case of possession of illegal substances, because if we just gave them a warning, they might not learn anything (from the exercise),” said Mondeor SAPS Communication Officer Sibongile Mnguni.

However, after the revelation of the learners to the Comaro CHRONICLE reporter, Mnguni said that all the boys’ explanations changed at the station when they saw their parents.

The learners who had been escorted to the police station in the presence of a Glenvista High School teacher changed their initial stories and claimed that they had been given the packets of cannabis by a boy in grade 10, although when probed further, they claimed they didn’t know the grade 10 boy’s name or what class he was in.

Later, they changed their stories again and said that it was untrue that the cannabis was found in their possession, claiming that they did not have any drugs on them.

One of the three boys who were taken to Mondeor Police Station to be charged for possession of illegal substances, had claimed while at the school that the cannabis he had declared actually belonged to another learner in grade 10, who had asked him to hold it for him.

He said that he suspected his friend of trying to set him up and save himself, after he found out police officers would be conducting a search on the morning of March 5.

“My friend gave me the cannabis when we were changing classes. We saw each other in the passage and he asked me to hold it for him,” he explained to a police officer.

The learner did not know that no learners, including prefects, had been informed that police would be coming to the school.

Parents at the police station were displeased that their children had been taken to the police station in their absence, but W/O Mnguni said that they had requested the presence of a teacher to act as a guardian to the learners. The parents say officers should have waited until they were able to come to the school before their children were escorted to Mondeor SAPS.

Gauteng Department of Education Spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane confirmed that the random school searches by police officers in Gauteng is an initiative by the Education Department and the Department of Safety Committee to ensure drug- and weapon-free schools.

The Juvenile Courts will decide on the way forward for learners who are underage, but they will be appearing in court as they have been charged.