Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
THE trial of two British nationals, Tihaise Darlin Elisha (18) and Taylor Tamara Simone (20), arrested in May at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport for allegedly smuggling 66,9 kilogrammes of dagga, has commenced in Harare.
The duo, both from Birmingham in the United Kingdom, are denying charges of unlawful possession of dangerous drugs.
They claim they were unknowingly used as drug couriers after being misled about the contents of the luggage they were transporting.
Prosecutor Mr Anesu Chirenje told the court that the accused were intercepted at the airport with four suitcases containing the illicit drugs.
In their defence outline, Elisha and Simone said they were recruited by a Birmingham resident only identified as Yassim, who allegedly offered to cover their travel expenses in exchange for delivering suitcases to Zimbabwe.
They were told the luggage contained electronic devices such as laptops, monitors and gaming consoles to be sold locally.
According to their statements, Yassim arranged a trip to Thailand, where they collected the bags from his associates.
The two claimed they repeatedly asked Yassim via WhatsApp to confirm that the suitcases contained no illegal substances, and he assured them the contents were legitimate.
The contraband reportedly passed through security checks in Thailand and again during a connecting flight in Ethiopia without incident.
Upon arrival in Harare, the pair said they were met by a man named Toswala, who introduced himself as an airport official assigned by Yassim to receive the bags. They claimed Toswala directed them to the baggage scanning area, where the dagga was discovered during inspection. The accused told the court they were unaware of the contraband until customs officials opened the bags.
They also alleged that Toswala vanished after the drugs were found, and police did not make any attempt to apprehend him despite being told about him.
However, during testimony, Detective Constable Abigail Chingwaru and Detective Sergeant Sithabiso Ncube both said the accused never mentioned Toswala at the time of arrest.
Peter Tanyanyiwa