Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
A 33-YEAR-OLD woman from Ingezi suburb in Kadoma has been jailed for an effective two and a half years by a Beitbridge magistrate’s court, as authorities continue their crackdown on the illegal drug trade and smuggling between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Sphelile Kufa was convicted on her own plea of guilty when she appeared before Beitbridge Resident Magistrate Mr. Takudzwa Gwazemba on Tuesday. She was charged with contravening a section of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act (Chapter 9:23).
She was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment after the trial magistrate set aside six months of the three-year sentence conditionally for five years.
The 6,2kg of marijuana (mbanje) was forfeited to the State as part of the sentence.
Prosecuting, Ms Tinayeishe Matenga told the court that on 3 March, at around 1 pm, police detectives on patrol received a tip-off about Kufa transporting marijuana that had allegedly been smuggled into Zimbabwe from South Africa.
They tracked the accused to the Masvingo turn-off, where she was flagging down lifts to Kadoma. The police searched her luggage, leading to the discovery of three well-wrapped packets of marijuana. She was arrested, and the contraband was taken for weighing at the local post office.
It was discovered that the three packages weighed a combined 6.260 kilograms, with an estimated street value of US$626.
Meanwhile, the police are still pursuing the driver of a South African commercial truck who fled after the discovery of 163kg of marijuana he had smuggled into Zimbabwe on Sunday.
The smuggling of marijuana from South Africa via the Beitbridge border post has been increasing in recent weeks, forcing border authorities to tighten controls on the movement of cargo and travelers to weed out drug peddlers and those shipping prohibited goods.
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