Mbanje dealer jailed 8 years for smuggling

The pair was accused of murdering Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services officer, Tapiwa Mutyasira (29), whose body was dumped along the Mutare-Harare railway line, where it was crushed into pieces by a goods train

Thupeyo Muleya-Beitbridge Bureau

A 25-YEAR-OLD woman from Harare, Elizabeth Marikafu, was yesterday convicted by Beitbridge resident magistrate Mr Takudzwa Gwazemba and sent to prison for eight years after she smuggled into the country 11kg of mbanje and an assortment of prohibited cough syrup (Benylin) from South Africa through the Beitbridge Border Post.

She was arrested on Tuesday as security officials tighten screws on drug smuggling cartels operating between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Marikafu was convicted on her own plea of guilt to contravening sections of the Dangerous Drugs Act and the Medicines Control Act, respectively.

Mr Gwazemba conditionally set aside two years from the 10-year jail term for five years. She will serve an effective eight years in jail.

She was ordered to pay a fine of US$100 for dealing in prohibited medicines, failure of which she will have to spend 30 days in jail.

The accused was arrested on Tuesday at Beitbridge Border Post during a routine search of travellers as part of security and customs formalities at the bus terminal.

The drugs were detected after her luggage was scanned, prompting authorities to carry out a physical examination.

Mbanje weighing 11,4 kg was found in her bag along with 12 bottles of Benylin cough syrup containing codeine, both of which are illegal under the country’s laws and worth US$114 and US$60 respectively.