Nine Chinese nationals, who recently grabbed headlines after being arrested at a Newlands party with cocaine, were yesterday fined US$150 each with the option of a six-month prison sentence.

The State proved that on September 1, 2025, authorities received a tip about drug abuse at all-night parties held at 60 Knights Bridge Road, Newlands, Harare.

Acting on the tip, detectives went to the lodge at 60 Knightsbridge Road, Newlands, Harare on September 2, 2025, at approximately 1:20 AM to conduct surveillance.

Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn

Upon entering the lodge, detectives arrested four Chinese men found sniffing cocaine in one lounge.

These suspects implicated Huang Zhen, leading the detectives to a second lounge where they observed ten people taking turns to sniff cocaine from a wooden tray.

The accused were using a golden playing card to cut cocaine before sniffing individually.

Detectives identified themselves to the accused by showing them their police identity cards and informed them the purpose of their visit.

They seized the white powder which the accused were sniffing from the wooden tray and placed it in a transparent plastic marked one.

The detectives also seized the mentioned wooden tray and golden playing card. They went on to conduct searches on the accused persons and seized two transparent plastic sachets of suspected cocaine from a small cream hand bag Huang Zhen was holding.

Accused persons were taken to CID drugs and narcotics, Harare where a field test was carried out in their presence and the seized drugs tested positive to cocaine, benzodiazepam and methamphetamine.

When the drugs were weighed in the presence of the accused, the cocaine from the wooden tray was approximately 5 grams, with a street value of US$210. The sachets recovered from Huang Zhen's handbag weighed approximately 31 grams, with a street value of US$850.