Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge
Two men who were in the habit of transporting mbanje between Beitbridge and other towns within the country in a Toyota Wish have been jailed for an effective eight years each by the Beitbridge regional magistrate court after the police found them with 307,5kg of mbanje.
The duo was busted with a contraband worth US$30,756.80 after evading a security road block at Makhado some 8km along the Beitbridge to Bulawayo road.
Runesu Emmanuel Wandura (37) and Tinashe Chivende (27) both of Beitbridge were convicted on one charge of dealing in dangerous drugs when they appeared before Beitbridge regional magistrate Ms Charity Maphosa on Tuesday.
They were left with eight years effective in jail each when the magistrate set aside two years of their 10 years imprisonment term for 5 years on condition of good behaviour.
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, the police manning a road block along the Beitbridge to Bulawayo road at Makhado received information about the duo’s activities of evading the check point as they transport the drugs.
The court heard that, acting on the information, the police and Bubye Valley Conservancy scouts laid an ambush on the two on a route they usually used between Beitbridge and Maranda.
At around 1am Wandura and Chivende ran into the ambush some 5km from the road block.
They were intercepted at the Towla gate along the Makhado to Maranda dust road with the car loaded with mbanje weighing a total of 307,568 kilogrammes.
The police also seized a cellphone which they were using to coordinate the transportation of the drugs.
Bongani Ndlovu