Eenhana, Nov 11 – An Angolan national who was found with foreign currency over N$ 1 million got N$ 150 000.00 bail in the Eenhana Magistrate court yesterday afternoon.
Pedro Junior (36), appeared on a charge of violating section 88(1) of Customs & Excise Act 20 of 1998 in Eenhana Magistrate Court. This charge is premised on an allegation that Pedro failed to declare the currencies upon entry into Namibia.
It is alleged that Pedro entered Namibia sometime before November 2021 from Angola, and was found on 08 November 2021 at a police manned roadblock at Okongo, in Ohangwena region, with a cocktail of currencies that include Angolan Kwanzas, US Dollars, Zambian Kwacha, and Kenyan Shillings. The combined value was over N$ 1 million. The currencies were allegedly found stacked around his body. A police source said the currencies were found in Pedro’s shoes, pockets, and under his trousers. Police also suspected that the situation could be money laundering. He was not asked to plead to the charge. At a first brief appearance yesterday afternoon, he was represented by an eminent Rundu-based lawyer, Bernhard Tjatjara from Bernhard Tjatjara & Co.
Two conditions were added to his release as proposed by Prosecutor Simata. The first condition was that Pedro was required to report two times in a week (that is on Mondays and Fridays) to the Investigating Officer of his case and the second condition was that Pedro was required to surrender all his travel documents to the Investigating Officer.
The matter was reverted to 21 April 2022 for further investigation.
Robert Maseka
mrobert@namibiadailynews.info
