Agliotti drug case postponed

The drug-dealing case against Brett Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti and four others has been postponed to March next year.

Agliotti, Stephanos Paparas, his father Dimitrio Paparas, and Stanley Poonin appeared in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Clinton Ronald Nassif (39)—also implicated in the Kebble murder—was added to the list of accused in the case and appeared in court.

Scorpions prosecutor Gerrie Nel said negotiations between the prosecutors and Nassif still needed to be finalised and asked magistrate James van Wyk to postpone the matter till 12pm on Wednesday. There have been media reports that Nassif is about to plead guilty and enter into a plea bargain.

The accused appeared for their involvement in a syndicate allegedly on the verge of exporting R250-million-worth of drugs to the United States.

On July 7 last year, the Scorpions arrested Lesley Allan Curtis, Christiaan Alblas, Pedro Marques, Dimitrio Paparas and Poonin during a raid on a self-storage facility in Alberton.

Investigators seized hashish and cannabis believed to be destined for the overseas market.

Stephano Paparas handed himself over to police on July 13.

Agliotti was later added to the charge sheet.

Curtis, a Canadian, and South Africans Alblas and Marques were sentenced in the Alberton Magistrate’s Court on July 25 2006 after turning state witness under a plea agreement.

Nel said on Tuesday that new facts in the case meant the state was no longer in a position to proceed, and he asked for the matter to be postponed to March 4 2008.

The magistrate also agreed to lessen some of the bail conditions of the accused.—Sapa