Africa-Press – Namibia. TWO Walvis Bay residents accused of smuggling a Namibian record quantity of cocaine into the country four years ago will have to wait two weeks longer to hear the verdict in their trial.
The verdict in the trial of Grant Noble (40) and Dinath Azhar (66) was due to be delivered in the Windhoek High Court yesterday, but was postponed to 18 August, as judge Orben Sibeya’s judgement is not ready yet.
Noble and Azhar are charged with counts of dealing in cocaine, alternatively possession of cocaine, and money laundering.
The state is alleging that they smuggled 412 kilograms of cocaine, with a street-market value of N$206 million, into Namibia between February and June 2018. That is the largest single consignment of cocaine to have been confiscated in Namibia to date.
The two men were arrested after the cocaine had been discovered in a shipping container at Walvis Bay’s harbour on 15 June 2018.
The container, which was also packed with boxes of printing paper, had been shipped from Brazil to Walvis Bay, via the port of Cape Town.
The container was imported by the close corporation Zeeki Trading CC, of which Noble is the sole member.
Noble and Azhar denied guilt on both charges during their trial, which started in June last year.
During the trial, Azhar told the court Zeeki Trading was his business entity, although Noble was registered as the close corporation’s member.
He also said he had ordered a consignment of printing paper from Brazil and was surprised when cocaine was discovered among the boxes of paper in the container that had been shipped to Walvis Bay.
Noble also denied having known that there was cocaine in the container.
Noble has been held in custody since June 2018. Azhar was in custody for more than three years before he was released on bail in September last year.
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