Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge
Two men who were in the habit of transporting mbanje between Beitbridge and other towns in Zimbabwe in a Toyota Wish have been jailed for an effective eight years each.
The Beitbridge regional magistrate’s court convicted the two after police found them with 307,5kg of mbanje.
The duo was busted with contraband worth US$30 756,80 after evading a security road block at Makhado, some 8km along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Road.
Runesu Emmanuel Wandura (37) and Tinashe Chivende (27), both of Beitbridge, were convicted on one charge of dealing in dangerous drugs and were jailed for 10 years each by Beitbridge regional magistrate Ms Charity Maphosa.
Ms Maphosa, however, set aside two years on condition of good behavior, leaving them to serve an effective eight years in jail
The 307,5kg of mbanje were forfeited to the State as part of the sentence.
Appearing for the State, Mr Willbrought Muleya said on June 28 this year, policemen manning a road block along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Road at Makhado received information about the duo’s activities of evading the checkpoint as they transport the drugs.
The court heard that, acting on the information, the policemen ambushed the two on a route they usually used between Beitbridge and Maranda.
At around 1 am, Wandura and Chivende ran into the ambush some 5km from the roadblock.
They were intercepted along a dirt road on the Makhado-Maranda Road with the car loaded with mbanje weighing a total of 307,568 kg worth US$30 756,80.
The police also seized a cellphone, which they were using to coordinate the transportation of the drugs.
