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Thupeyo Muleya – Beitbridge Bureau

A 33-year-old woman from Mbare in Harare has been jailed for five years by a Beitbridge magistrate court after she was arrested while carrying 6,3kgs of Mbanje (dagga) that is believed to have been smuggled from South Africa.

Of late there is an upsurge in cases where drug peddlers are smuggling Mbanje from South Africa in huge quantities via the Limpopo River or through the border using light cross-border transporters known as Omalaitsha.

Most of the hallucinating drugs are destined for high-density suburbs in Bulawayo and Harare.

Brenda Chipfunde who was busted on February 7 while attempting to hike lifts to Harare was convicted on her own plea of guilty to contravening a section of the Dangerous Drugs Act when she appeared before Mr Mbonisi Kaweni.

She was left with four years and two months effective in jail when the trial magistrate conditionally suspended 10 months of the five-year sentence for 5 years.

The dagga was forfeited to the State as part of the sentence.

Prosecuting, Mr Tawanda Chigavazira said on February 7 at around 6 pm, detectives from Beitbridge police station were on patrol when they got information that Chipfunde was transporting the dangerous drugs from Beitbridge to Harare.

They then tracked her to a hiking spot along the Beitbridge-Harare road where they found her flagging vehicles for lifts.

The police detectives identified themselves and requested to search her luggage resulting in the discovery of 12 cobs of mbanje.

These were wrapped in a duvet. Chipfunde was subsequently arrested and the dagga was taken for weighing giving a weight of 6,3 kilograms.