Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka-Court Correspondent
A 27-year-old Latvian national, Vitalijs Kudrjasovs, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin through Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare.
The sentence was handed down by magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei following a full trial.
In addition to the prison term, Kudrjasovs was fined US$5 000 or an equivalent amount in local currency, calculated at the prevailing bank rate.
Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional five years of imprisonment.
Kudrjasovs, who was in Zimbabwe as a visitor, was arrested on September 8, 2022, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis Ababa, en route to India.
The court heard from prosecutor Mr Tendai Tapi that on the day of his arrest, Kudrjasovs checked in at the airport at approximately 3pm with two pieces of luggage.
After completing check-in, immigration, and customs procedures, he declared that his baggage contained only clothing.
During routine security checks, his black bag was flagged by Airport Aviation Security after suspicious images were detected on the Ground Zero scanner.
Kudrjasovs was questioned and maintained that the bag contained only personal clothing.
Further inspection in the presence of customs officials and police revealed a false compartment in the bag containing four packages of a brownish substance.
Preliminary field tests confirmed the substance to be heroin.
The confiscated heroin weighed 8,350.2 grams and had an estimated street value of ZWL$6,680,160.
Laboratory tests conducted by the Forensic Science Laboratory confirmed the substance as heroin.
Mr Ndirowei highlighted the seriousness of the offence and stressed the importance of deterring drug trafficking in the region.
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