Dear @JacintaNgobese,

Are you aware that the relationship between the South African state, transnational networks, and domestic syndicates is a complex history of shifting borders, institutional weaponisation, and modern criminal evolution?

Over centuries, what is now known today as South Africa transformed from a landscape of localised traditional plant use into a multi-billion-rand hub for global drug trafficking. And this had nothing to do with Nigeria or Nigerians.

Perhaps you are not aware that the"birth" of substance markets in South Africa did not occur overnight, but unfolded in distinct historical phases driven by varying global actors.

Long before European ships ever sighted the Cape of Good Hope, the story of substance use in Southern Africa began with the shifting winds of the Indian Ocean. Centuries ago, Arab and East African maritime traders sailed down the coastline, carrying with them the seeds of cannabis sativa (locally known as dagga). As these traders bartered along the coast, they introduced the plant to indigenous Bantu-speaking communities migrating southward, who in turn shared it with the Khoisan people.

For generations, cannabis was an agricultural crop integrated into traditional medicine, spiritual rituals, and social customs, governed tightly by communal norms rather than state laws.

The landscape changed drastically as the British Empire expanded its grip on the region’s (South Africa's) diamonds and gold. To power the gruelling colonial economy, authorities brought in thousands of indentured labourers, sugar plantation workers from India to Natal, and gold miners from China to the Witwatersrand. Some of these workers brought their own traditions of opium use to cope with the backbreaking labour.

Fearing that opium would sap the productivity of the workforce or "corrupt" local labour pools, the British colonial administration stepped in quickly with restrictive colonial laws (such as Natal's Coolie Law Consolidation of 1870), establishing early criminal frameworks against substances that disrupted industrial output.

Further to the above, by the mid-20th century, the introduction of drugs shifted from maritime trade routes to the sterile counters of legitimate pharmacies. In the 1960s, global pharmaceutical companies began marketing a new, synthetic sedative called methaqualone, branded famously as Mandrax. Marketed to the South African medical establishment as a safe, non-addictive cure for insomnia, doctors prescribed it freely.

However, users quickly discovered its intense euphoric effects. When the apartheid government realised the scale of abuse and banned Mandrax in 1971, it inadvertently handed a goldmine to the criminal underworld. I want to believe that you are aware of this.

Underground networks stepped in to meet the demand, creating a unique South African street culture centred around crushing the legal-turned-illegal pill and smoking it with cannabis, a mixture known on the streets as the "white pipe."

As you are aware, the darkest chapter of this history took place when the apartheid state itself became the country's largest drug manufacturer. Facing massive internal resistance and a growing liberation movement, the military launched a clandestine chemical and biological warfare program known as Project Coast, headed by Dr Wouter Basson.

Instead of just looking for battlefield weapons, Project Coast targeted its own citizens. The military covertly manufactured metric tons of street drugs, including MDMA (ecstasy) and Mandrax. The chilling strategy was to flood politically active black townships and youth counter-cultures with highly addictive substances, hoping to pacify political resistance, destabilise community organising and hook a generation on narcotics.

Millions of these state-manufactured pills eventually leaked directly into the criminal underworld, feeding the gang structures that still exist today. Authority to Parliament @JacintaNgobese, for the avoidance of doubt, when South Africa transitioned to democracy in 1994, it opened its borders to the global economy. But as legitimate international trade, modern banking, and tourism rushed in, transnational criminal syndicates walked through the exact same doors.

South Africa's purported advanced infrastructure, like the bustling Port of Durban and OR Tambo International Airport, made it a prime target.

Foreign nationals, mainly run by Chinese, Pakistani, Somalians, and Colombian syndicates, established operational bases in urban centres like Johannesburg, introducing high-purity South American cocaine and Afghan heroin.

Simultaneously, Chinese criminal networks began trading chemical precursors to street gangs in the Western Cape in exchange for poached resources like abalone. This toxic alliance birthed the modern era of low-cost, devastating synthetics: Tik (crystal meth) and Nyaope (a brutal street mix of low-grade heroin, cannabis, and toxic cutting agents). I want to believe that your friends who do drugs have informed you about this.

The expansion of these drug markets has resulted in staggering incarceration figures, burdening both South African correctional services and foreign prison systems. The domestic crackdowns on drug networks occupy a substantial portion of the South African Police Service (SAPS) resources.

Between January and July 2024 alone, SAPS uncovered 11 major clandestine drug manufacturing laboratories across the country. A single raid in Groblersdal, Limpopo, netted synthetic drugs (primarily crystal meth/tik) valued at an estimated R2 billion.

Thousands of South Africans are arrested annually for drug offences, but the profile is heavily skewed. Street-level users and micro-dealers handling low-cost concoctions like nyaope or tik make up the vast majority of local prison intake, while high-level kingpins frequently exploit procedural loopholes or corrupt networks to evade prosecution. South African Inmates Across the Globe.

Driven by economic desperation or targeted by sophisticated syndicates, hundreds of South Africans, frequently acting as international drug mules, are currently serving lengthy sentences in foreign prisons.

According to records from the Consular Services of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and non-profit monitoring organisations, East Asia has become a high-density zone for South African couriers.

Over 60 South Africans are currently serving prison sentences in Hong Kong alone for drug smuggling offences. Historically, international syndicates have aggressively targeted vulnerable demographic groups; past consular audits revealed that hundreds of South African women were detained concurrently in foreign prisons across South America and Europe after being deceived by romance scams or fraudulent "travel courier" job offers.

As you may now be aware, the Cyber Crimes Bill has now become an Act of Parliament, which means that it is now enforceable. It is most apposite to note the following:

1. Section 3:
It is an offence to access someone’s phone or computer (the punishment is 5 years imprisonment).

https://twitter.com/AROLE_PeterObi/status/1917681203626287152

2. Section 4:

This section of the Cybercrime Act now makes it an offence to modify, delete, obstruct etc someone’s data. The punishment is 5 years imprisonment.

3. Section 5:

It is an offence to communicate “critical information” to someone not authorised to receive such communication.

The punishment is 15 years imprisonment.

I am just returning from the Custodial Center.

I was meant to re-interview just one person: remember the guy that got sentenced to death for defending himself against two armed robbers that attacked him?

Yes, today as scheduled for his further interview.

However, sequel to the said interview, the Officer in Charge, whilst on soft patrol, reached out to me and commended me for taking conscious effort to decongest the custodial center under his care. He was most impressed.

So, whilst at it, inmates without lawyers were referred to me.

I handful of them and some of those cases are worth sharing, after spending more than 4 hours [t]here.

1. Interviewed an inmate, let us called her EUO.
- She is 18 years old.
- Her father died when she was still a child (she is told).
- She hawks "agidi" and lives with her grandmother.
- Accused of armed robbery.
- She was arrested sometime in August 2024 alongside three men between ages 45 - 49 - all accused of armed robbery.
- When the police arrested, they tortured her to the point that she confessed to be an armed robber and wielding a gun.
-But at the Custodial center and during interview, she opened up that she never did any of those things: that it because:
1. the hung her upside down;
2. used lighter to burn her vagina;
3. tortured her until she could no longer endure the torture she received.

- One of the suspects arrested with her, who flatly denied being an armed robber, subsequently died at the police correctional center, owing to the torture meted on him at the Police Station.

- She was asked to produce 150k for her bail at the police station. But since she could produce the said 150k, she subsequently remanded.

- It is her case that she was prevented by the police from reaching her grandmother at all material time.

Her family is not aware of her whereabouts as I make this tweet.

I will be representing her pro bono. CASE TWO: Let us called this inmate PNE.

They are peasants.

- They farm for people and used the proceeds to feed their children.

- The both have five and four children respectively.
- A concerned neighbour volunteered to be taking care of one of her children by providing food, and occasionally accommodating the child to sleep at her place infrequently. The child was 3 years old at the time. This is so, because, most times, the child is made to stay under the sun whilst the mother works on farm and had escaped snake bite twice.

- A relative of hers who got envious of the favours she was receiving from that neighbour reported her to the police on allegation of child trafficking.

She and her sister were arrested, and detained for 2 months and three weeks.

The lady that was occasionally assisting to take care of the said child was arrested and made to pay 9 million on allegation of child trafficking.

While they were at it, the police demanded that they (the inmates) pay the sum of 2 million naira to free themselves. Well, they could not produce such money, hence they were constantly tortured and eventually remanded at the correctional center.

They have so been at the custodial center all these while without legal representation.

We shall do all within our capacity to represent them and ensure that they get a deserving justice.

PS: These two women do not even know where their children are as I type. Because, upon their arrest, the police did not afford them the opportunity to inform their people that are being arrested. As we speak nobody knows of their whereabouts.

Today has been quite soulful for me.

I went to the Magistrate Court today, from thence, I went to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Nigeria Police, then had a long day interviewing inmates at the custodial center.

The first person I interviewed admitted to committing the Offence However, for the offence of stealing and conspiracy...are all bailable.

It's been three years now without any form of trial.

He gave me an address.

I hope to visit his people and inform them that their son has been at the custodial center.

I will reach out to the Complainant.

Today, a litigant (probably a young person from his appearance) informed the Court that he was representing himself and will not be needing the services of a lawyer. The Defendant consulted and retained the professional service(s) of a lawyer and that lawyer informed the Court that he will be objecting to the Plaint filed by the Plaintiff for being “grossly incompetent”. He further submitted that the Court, with respect, does not have jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
The Court now asked the litigant/Plaintiff to respond to the issues raised by the

And, from the US, we have this story about South Carolina’s decision to reinstate the firing squad as a method of execution, a form of capital punishment not used in the state since the Civil War. Americans have an appetite for reenacting the past, especially the battles of the U.S. Civil War, which took place from 1861 to 1865. Every year, in an effort to relive something of the nation’s bloodiest war, thousands don blue and gray uniforms and gather on fields where the

Yesterday, my younger brother’s wife was falsely accused by a customer of “stealing her phone” and, the said customer employed the services of some police officers to do her biddings for her.

What happened?

The said customer visited my younger brother’s wife’s shop, picked up Some items and left.

After about 30 minutes of leaving the shop, the said customer returned and claimed that she left her phone behind and that it was my younger brother’s wife should produce the phone.

Calls were made and before you know it, Police was everywhere.

ATTN: @NigBarAssoc @YCMaikyauSAN @PoliceNG_CRU @PoliceNG

Good afternoon Ma. compliments of the season.
I am Barr. Yvonne a member of the NBA Lagos Branch, Sir I tried reaching out to you but I guess you are busy. My boss Barr Omobolanle Raheem was shot dead today, by a POLICE OFFICER on her way back from Xmas service at Ajah under bridge .Her family just called me now , that they need a lawyer to stand in for them before the police changes the narrative. They have taken the matter to Ajiwe Police Station.

During covid lockdown we had a case around my neighbourhood

This guy is married with 2 kids. A boy and girl, both teenagers.

Dad works on the island with the daughter in secondary school while mum is a teacher at XYZ and lives with the son. Neighbours knows him as a very protective dad to his daughter. You only see her outside when she's going or coming back from school.
Lockdown made their mum relocate to the island with her son.

Then the mum discovered daughter was preggy and conered her to speak up. She refused.

The Karnataka High Court, India, while declaring that the wearing of hijab by Muslim women is not an 'essential religious practice' in Islamic Faith, said that, "The Holy Quran does not mandate wearing of hijab or headgear for Muslim women". The Court also observed that the prescriptions in suras regarding Hijab are not mandatory.

"The Holy Quran does not mandate wearing of hijab or headgear for Muslim women. Whatever is stated in the above sūras, we say, is only directory , because of absence of prescription of

The constitutional right to an abortion in the US has been eliminated after nearly 50 years.

Yesterday, the conservative-majority Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that strikes down federal protections for abortion and punts abortion regulation to the states. The Supreme Court in history has never before granted a widely recognised constitutional right and then taken it back.

This is historic in many ways.

TODAY IN COURT

A blind man suffering LOW BLOOD PRESSURE and STROKE was dragged to Court today by his estranged wife and three (3) children. The man was accused of abandoning his wife and children to live with another woman. In reply, the man informed the Court that he left his house because HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN STOPPED giving him food and care, which made him starve most of the time and his health deteriorate a great deal. Whilst addressing the Court, the man and the judge and the

In view of the humanitarian crisis resulting from Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, the Council introduced humanitarian exceptions1 in two sanctions regimes concerning the situation in Ukraine: restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine (“Ukraine territorial integrity regime”), and restrictive measures in response to the recognition of the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and the ordering

AFGHANISTAN IN THE EYES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

The granting or refusal to grant recognition to a government is not purely a matter of international politics and diplomacy. There are some legal aspects to it and legal consequences arising out of such recognition. For a start, the problem is not with regard to the 'state' of Afghanistan, but with regard to the 'government' of Afghanistan. In international law, the continuity of a state terminates only when its population or territory undergo changes.

ANITA PAUL OKOYE AND HER RELIEF FOR MONTHLY SPOUSAL AND CHILD MAINTENANCE - ALIMONY - AS PRAYED TO THE COURT IN HER PETITION FOR DIVORCE FILED AT THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT, ABUJA JUDICIAL DIVISION

FEW THINGS WORTHY OF NOTE 1. Alimony is an allowance paid by one spouse to another by order of a court for the maintenance of the other spouse while they are separated, during divorce proceedings or after they are divorced.

On Monday, before doing my matter in Court, I witnessed the trial of two rape cases. In the 1st case, records available before the Court shows that the Prosecution was lackadaisical and grossly incompetent. They missed out on too many crucial things, including medical report. The accused was charged on a 2 count charge of which rape was among the charges. He is accused of raping a 21-year-old lady. Apparently, he did it. However, when taking his plea, he pleaded not guilty. The lawyer defending him was brilliant. He destroyed the evidence of the

On this International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence based on Religion or Belief, I stand in solidarity with all victims of persecution, wherever they may be. In a year when, among other challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to limitations in the exercise of and put respect for human rights to a test, we continue to witness how religious intolerance leads to individuals across the world being harassed

UPDATE ON THE CASE OF MR. OKEY IFEJOKU:

1. I just got off the cal with one of the sons of Mr. Okey Ifejoku.

2. From my conversation with him, there are brilliant lawyers already handling this matter. They were also the ones that represented him when he was charged with murder. 3. Mr. Okey is standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja judicial division for a 3 count charge for acts of 'terrorism' tied to the murder of one Cyprian - as seen in the further further amended charge sheet.

The Council today decided to prolong the framework for restrictive measures against cyber-attacks threatening the EU or its member states for another year, until 18 May 2022.

. This framework allows the EU to impose targeted restrictive measures on persons or entities involved in cyber-attacks which cause a significant impact, and constitute an external threat to the EU or its member states.

Today, I addressed students of Government Girls Secondary school...and told them that no amount of bride price can sufficiently quantify the worth of any woman. I also told those promising las that marriage is not an achievement. I further told them that they had a duty to succeed in life, make their parents proud and, the society better. I made it clear to them that every girl or woman out there can succeed without the help of a man. I told them that they need not get laid in order to succeed.

It is a wrong for a man to use the colour of his station in life to oppress the common man. It is even a greater wickedness to charge an innocent man for murder at the magistrate Court. He was discharged and acquitted on merit. Not stopping there, you decided to charge him for treason at the Federal High Court,Abuja. There is nothing in the charge that discloses the offence he is so charged with. I feel for chief Okey Ifejoku, he is a victim of arbitrary use of power, arising from communal land crises.