Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
SOUTH African police have arrested two women, one Zimbabwean and another from Lesotho, for attempting to smuggle 28 kilogrammes of heroin worth R8 million (almost $800,000) into South Africa through the Beitbridge border post.Zimbabwean Memory Mapurisa, 39, and Vuyiswa Mabaso, 23, were intercepted by a patrol team comprising customs and police officers on Sunday night.
Mapurisa was found with 18kg of ephedrine, while Mabaso had 10kg of the same substance, a key ingredient of heroin.

The duo appeared at the Musina Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with drug possession and were remanded in custody to Tuesday next week pending further investigations.

Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Ronel Otto said the suspects were arrested while walking  across the bridge from Zimbabwe into South   Africa. They had already cleared Zimbabwean immigration.

“They were stopped and searched by members from the South African Revenue Services who found the drug-like substance,” she said.

“The assistance of the police was sought and   it was determined that the women were   carrying ephedrine, one of the main substances of heroin.”

Col Otto said further investigations were in progress to establish where the women were coming from and their final destination.

The smuggling of drugs, explosives and cigarettes has become rife at the border between Zimbabwe  and South Africa, a situation that has forced authorities from both countries to scale up joint  patrols.

The smuggling of the drugs came shortly after South African authorities intercepted 80kg of cocaine worth R23 million that was being smuggled into that country in a haulage truck.

Recently, a 41-year-old woman from Bulawayo was fined R20,000 by a Musina magistrate after she was found guilty of smuggling 40 detonators into that country.

 

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