From: AllAfrica
By Eveline De Klerk
Walvis Bay — Sixty-three-year old British businessman Michael ‘Mike’ Brown who faces a charge of smuggling N$12 million worth of cigarette contraband had to drop his bail application in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court last week Thursday after police found another 85 boxes of contraband cigarettes.
The cigarettes were found at his house at the town last week Wednesday and squashed all prospects to secure bail. The latest consignment of cigarettes are said to be worth N$1 million.
According to the Walvis Bay police, Brown was taken from detention to his house on Wednesday by Nampol officers to conduct a search in his presence and that is how the police happened upon the cigarettes.
Brown and his co-accused, 41-year-old Lazarus Nugurib, appeared in court on Wednesday where he (Brown) dropped his bail application. Their case was postponed to July 23 and the two suspects remain in police custody.
The two were arrested two weeks ago in Walvis Bay over the alleged importation of N$12 million worth of cigarettes falsely declared as furniture in April this year. They appeared in court on charges related to contravening the Customs and Excise Act of 1998. They also face alternative charges of fraud, tax evasion, falsifying information regarding the contents of the containers and smuggling.
The container was in transit to Zimbabwe from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when Nampol and customs officials received a tip-off on the contents. Nampol put the container, which landed on April 01 this year at Walvis Bay, under surveillance.
The container was then cleared on April 11 by Namibia Trophy Clearing agency as furniture and moved out of the port on April 15 by CC Logistics, a company owned by the second suspect Lazurus Nugurib.
Nampol last week told New Era that Brown is also implicated in another case whereby a container with counterfeit Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes was found at a farm in the Karibib district.
The container mysteriously disappeared from Walvis Bay while it was still under investigation and was only discovered later on the farm. The farm belonged to a former Nampol officer, Phillip Nambuli. At the time Nambuli and his son were arrested in connection with the case that has now been traced back to Brown five years after the alleged crime. The container consisted of 454 master boxes of counterfeit Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes worth N$6.8 million.
