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The Citizen
19 hours ago
- The Citizen
Pastor from Standerton finds redemption after life of addiction
From Mr Popular to living on the streets, pastor Quincy Jacobs has experienced the full devastation of drug abuse and the joy of recovery. His long history with substance use began at just 13 when he first encountered alcohol. At 15, he drank regularly, often skipping school to indulge. 'That played a big role in cultivating my mindset,' Jacobs said. At 16, he started smoking marijuana but quit soon after, remaining mostly clean for five years. But at 21, he returned to daily marijuana use. In 1999, he came across an article in You magazine about the latest club drug: ecstasy. 'At this point, I had built up a tolerance to weed and wanted to try something new,' said Jacobs. A few months later, while studying at Damelin College, he experimented with ecstasy and, soon after, LSD. He noted that while psychedelics aren't generally considered physically addictive, he became deeply dependent on every drug he tried. Everything changed when he used ephedrine, a key ingredient in CAT. In 2005, his drug use escalated when he and a friend bought crack cocaine. Jacobs said there was no turning back after that first hit. 'People always talked about how addictive crack was. I was always chasing a stronger high, so I found it appealing,' he said. 'Crack was the drug that finally broke me; it cracked me wide open.' Within a month, he was fully dependent. After three months, he was smoking R1 000 of crack daily. He spiralled into a life of crime, scamming others, selling his clothes and chasing his next fix. 'I went from being the life of the party to a socially withdrawn, full-blown crackhead,' he said. ALSO CHECK: Mayor hands motorised wheelchair to young eMbalenhle learner to support her education, independence Years later, Jacobs tried crystal meth for the first time. 'Whenever a new drug hit the streets of Joburg, I was always one of the first to try it,' he said. His meth addiction left him homeless on the streets of Johannesburg. He chose street life to spare his mother further pain. During this time, his drug use peaked. He was using crystal meth, Mandrax, heroin, anything he could get. 'I even sold a blanket from a charity and groceries from a local church just to get high,' he admitted. After seven years, his rock bottom unexpectedly arrived. He woke up one day planning to get heroin, but it started raining before he could sell anything for the money he needed. 'When you withdraw from heroin, it's called 'downing'. I always told myself I'd stop when I downed,' he said. As the day wore on, his body ached. The withdrawal pain was overwhelming – like dying, he said. In desperation, Jacobs turned to God, pleading for relief. When the withdrawal became unbearable, he called his mother's friend, who took him to the hospital. 'My mother saved my life that day. She convinced them to treat me despite my history, then took me home after six long hours,' he said. That night, he bathed, ate and slept. The next morning, he felt good for the first time in years. 'I thought it would pass, that the cravings would come back. But one day became two, and before I knew it, I was three months sober.' At three months clean, Jacobs enrolled at Destiny College International. At 38, he began studying to become a pastor. Now nine years sober, he runs the Cherith House rehab centre, which recently opened in Standerton. He thanks God daily for the empathy and strength to help others recover. 'My work keeps me accountable, and God gives me the strength to continue,' Jacobs said. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Daily Maverick
19-06-2025
- Daily Maverick
Spies and SA's narco secrets — behind the US sentencing of global drug trafficker ‘Sultan' Muhammad Asif Hafeez
Muhammad Asif Hafeez of Pakistan previously pleaded guilty in the US to drug trafficking charges. Now he's reportedly been sentenced in a case also implicating Vicky Goswami, a Mandrax mastermind who once testified about dominating South Africa's narco trade — and murders. South Africa's narcotrafficking arena, part of global organised crime, is saturated with suspicions linked to spies, double agents and politics. A sprawling case that touches on some of these elements involves Muhammad Asif Hafeez, also known as 'the big boss' and 'Sultan', from Pakistan. He once claimed to be a US government informant. In November last year the US Justice Department issued a statement announcing that Hafeez, 'one of the world's most prolific drug traffickers', pleaded guilty to narco conspiracy charges there. It also said Hafeez had been dominant 'in a sophisticated international drug trafficking network'. That drug network extended all the way to South Africa. And among those involved in it were individuals who have, or are suspected to have, operated in different countries' government circles. Daily Maverick previously referenced a 2019 Vrye Weekblad report that said Mandrax trafficker Vicky Goswami of India, in sealed grand jury testimony in the US, alleged that members of the Gupta family were involved in money laundering on behalf of Hafeez. A Gupta lawyer on a previous occasion previously failed to respond to Daily Maverick questions about this. And a lawyer for Hafeez had said his client denied knowing the Guptas. Now, it was reported that earlier this month, on 6 June 2025, that Hafeez had been sentenced in the US to an effective 16 years in jail on the charges he previously pleaded guilty to. Hafeez and heroin The BBC summed up the case: 'After a complex joint operation between the British and American authorities, Hafeez, 66, was extradited from the UK in 2023. He pleaded guilty last November. 'He was (recently) sentenced to 16 years in a New York prison for conspiring to import drugs — including enough heroin for 'millions of doses' — into the US.' Unlike previously when the US government issued press releases when accused individuals in the broader case linked to Hafeez were arrested, pleaded or were sentenced, this did not happen with the handing down of his jail term. Daily Maverick unsuccessfully tried to get direct confirmation and details on Hafeez's sentencing, which has since been reported on internationally, from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. A search on the US government's inmate locator platform did not show anyone detained there under his name. But an inmate recorded as 'Muhammad Hafiz' was jailed there and his age was recorded as 66 years — this, based on what the US previously divulged in a press statement, is roughly the same as Hafeez's age. Daily Maverick has also established that one of his aliases listed on an indictment against him is 'Muhammad Asif Hafiz'. This therefore suggests that Hafeez is indeed a sentenced prisoner in the US. Akashas of Kenya He appears to be one of the last key figures, if not the last one, in this specific US case to be sentenced. It has yet to be seen whether the case will now quietly taper off or if information gleaned from it, which may include secrets about South Africa's drug trade, will result in further arrests and legal proceedings. Baktash Akasha Abdalla, Ibrahim Akasha Akasha Abdalla, Gulam Hussein, Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami extradited to the US over drug trafficking — Hot 96 FM Kenya (@Hot_96Kenya) February 1, 2017 Hafeez was accused of conspiring, from about 2013, with others including two Kenyan brothers, Baktash Akasha Abdalla and Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla, better known as the Akashas. According to the US, Baktash allegedly headed an organised crime group known as the Akasha Organisation. It distributed drugs in Kenya, throughout Africa and into the US. Hafeez was accused of being a primary supplier of drugs to the Akashas. Goswami and South Africa This is where Goswami fits in because the Akashas and Hafeez had worked with him. Goswami's past, with strong connections to South Africa, is detailed in this journalist's book, Clash of the Cartels: Unmasking the global drug kingpins stalking South Africa. It details how Goswami appeared to be politically connected in this country. A section also notes some lingering questions about him: 'Was he working with South African activists and politicians who later rose to power when the state became a democracy? 'Will he dig up and detail the dirt on old South African acquaintances? Is he actually an intelligence agent for another country, perhaps the US?' Decades ago, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Goswami operated in Zambia — coincidentally where former president Jacob Zuma became the ANC's intelligence chief during apartheid. In the early 1990s he based himself in South Africa. Goswami later ended up in Dubai and in 1997 he was jailed there for dealing in Mandrax. Goswami was released from a Dubai prison in 2012 and headed to Kenya. The following year, according to US authorities, drug trafficking webs around Goswami expanded to include, among others, the Akasha brothers and Hafeez. Factory raid in India A New York US Attorney's Office press statement picks up the story — and references South Africa. It said that 'by early 2014' the Akasha brothers 'and other members of the Akasha Organization started to work to import ton quantities of methaqualone precursor chemicals into Africa in order to fuel the illicit [Mandrax] pills' production in South Africa'. They used the proceeds of the Mandrax dealings to import ephedrine that was 'produced illegally' at a factory in Solapur, India. In 2016 that factory was raided, though, thwarting their plans. The following year, 2017, the Akashas and Goswami were extradited from Kenya to the US to face criminal charges. That year, Hafeez was provisionally arrested in the UK, where he was based at the time. He tried to prevent his extradition from the UK to the US by turning to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Hafeez had claimed to be a US government informant. But the court found: 'The US Government had denied that the applicant was an informant and, while he may have had contact with law enforcement agencies, the District Judge did not consider that he had done so out of a sense of moral duty. 'Rather, he was someone who had brought to the attention of the authorities the criminal conduct of others who he knew to be actual or potential rivals to his substantial criminal enterprise.' Hafeez was extradited to the US in May 2023. Sentencing and singing in the US By then, Goswami had already started speaking out there, following his extradition years earlier. While testifying in the US in 2019, he referred to the Solapur ephedrine factory that was raided in 2016. He also talked about the assassination in South Africa in 2014 of a drug trafficker — identified in court proceedings only as Pinky, who was shot 32 times. Goswami testified that an acquaintance was promised half a ton of abba (chemicals used to make Mandrax) in exchange for the murder to be carried out. He also explained the reason behind Pinky's assassination: 'Because, first of all, Pinky was threatening us. Second, we wanted to have him killed so we can put an impression in (the) South African drug market (that) we are not here to play.' Daily Maverick has previously reported that while Goswami is wanted in India over the Solapur factory raid saga, he also became a cooperating witness for the US government. As for the Akasha brothers, both have already been sentenced. Baktash was jailed in the US for 25 years in 2018, while Ibrahim was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment in 2020. With Hafeez earlier this month also being jailed, it means the US has in its custody inmates with apparent intimate knowledge of drug dealings in South Africa, an arena that has always been close to political suspicions. DM
The Citizen
19-06-2025
- The Citizen
Alleged drug dealer nabbed following tip-off
In a dramatic arrest, police in the Fezile Dabi district arrested a 38-yearold. This comes after police acted upon intelligence information about a suspect selling drugs in the area. When police ambushed the dealer, he tried to flee the scene but was later apprehended. Fezile Dabi police spokesperson Sergeant Josephine Rani confirmed the arrest. 'On June 11, our officers arrested a suspect for possession of drugs. This follows a tip-off on Tuesday about the said dealer, who is now behind bars.' 'During the search, the suspect was found in possession of nine packets of crystal meth and six brown tablets (Mandrax),' said Rani. The police mouthpiece said the suspect was arrested and charged with possession of drugs, and the drugs were confiscated. 'The suspect appeared before the Parys Magistrate's Court soon on charges of possession of drugs,' she said. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The Citizen
18-06-2025
- The Citizen
Man behind bars for possession of drugs
Man behind bars for possession of drugs TUMAHOLE – In a dramatic arrest, police in the Fezile Dabi district arrested a 38-yearold. This comes after police acted upon intelligence information about a suspect selling drugs in the area. When police ambushed the dealer, he tried to flee the scene but was later apprehended. Fezile Dabi police spokesperson Sergeant Josephine Rani confirmed the arrest. 'On June 11, our officers arrested a suspect for possession of drugs. This follows a tip-off on Tuesday about the said dealer, who is now behind bars.' 'During the search, the suspect was found in possession of nine packets of crystal meth and six brown tablets (Mandrax),' said Rani. The police mouthpiece said the suspect was arrested and charged with possession of drugs, and the drugs were confiscated. 'The suspect appeared before the Parys Magistrate's Court soon on charges of possession of drugs,' she said. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
The South African
14-06-2025
- The South African
POLICE SEIZE DAGGA WORTH R7 MILLION IN MPUMALANGA
The police in Tonga confiscated dagga amounting to approximately R7 million in Sibange near Tonga, Mpumalanga, on Friday, 13 June 2025, following a high-speed chase with the Ehlanzeni District (Tonga Task Team). The task team was conducting a stop and search operation in the Sibange area when they stopped a grey VW Polo. However, the driver refused to stop, prompting a chase that went on for 10 kilometres. After the long chase, the suspect abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot. Police recovered more than 20 compressed bags of dagga and confiscated the vehicle. 'The suspect eventually abandoned the vehicle in the Khombaso area and fled into nearby bushes. Upon searching the vehicle, officers discovered 24 compressed bags of dagga, believed to be worth millions of rand,' read the police statement. The SAPS urged anyone with information on the suspect's whereabouts to contact the SAPS Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or to submit tip-offs via the MYSAPS App. The South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Northern Cape, through Operation Vala Umgodi, has arrested eight suspects in connection with drugs. The eight suspects, aged between 24 and 49, were arrested during a multi-disciplinary, intelligence-driven operation conducted in the Frances Baard District. Operational teams discovered a significant quantity of abandoned dagga at the Beefmaster illegal mining site. The first five male suspects were arrested at a construction site in Rhodesdene for breaking the South African Immigration Laws after it was discovered that they had entered the country illegally. Furthermore, two more suspects were arrested in an informal settlement near Tlhageng, Galeshewe, for drug dealing. Police seized drugs, including methamphetamine (commonly known as Tik) and Mandrax tablets during the arrest. Lastly, a 31-year-old male suspect was apprehended in De Beershoogte, Barkly West, after also being found with suspected Tik and Mandrax tablets. The drugs were seized as evidence. The suspects are expected to appear before the Kimberley and Barkly West Magistrates' Courts on Tuesday, 17 June 2025. The police encouraged citizens to report any criminal activity anonymously on via the MySAPS App or by contacting the Crime Stop hotline on 08600 10111. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
