THE South African-based woman Ncombo Theodorah Tobeka who was found in possession of cocaine was yesterday sentenced to an effective 15-years in jail — the minimum statutory sentence for the offence.
BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI SENIOR REPORTER
Tobeka (48) was found in possession of two kilogrammes of the dangerous drug.
She was convicted on her own plea of guilty to the offence when she appeared before Harare magistrate Donald Ndirowei.
She was intercepted soon after landing at Harare International Airport while carrying the illicit drug on December 18, 2013.
That was after police detectives had received information that a female drug dealer from Colombia was aboard an Ethiopian Airline plane landing at the airport around midday and was carrying dangerous drugs.
The detectives made a follow-up and liaised with immigration officials for her identification.
At around 1 o’clock, the plane landed and Tobeka disembarked. She was identified upon presenting her South African passport to an immigration official for clearance and detectives were alerted.
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The detectives monitored her from the immigration cubicles and intercepted her when she was just about to leave the Zimra cubicles heading out of the airport. A search was conducted on her suitcase from which was retrieved four textbooks, each containing two plastic envelopes glued to both side covers with a whitish substance.
The eight envelopes weighed 2,108kg. Field tests were conducted and the substance tested positive for cocaine.
During mitigation, Tobeka of Qweqwe Location, Umtata in Eastern Cape, South Africa, had pleaded for leniency saying she was a first offender and unfamiliar with the country’s laws.
However, prosecutor Sharon Mashavira dismissed her defence saying it was common knowledge that cocaine was a banned drug worldwide.
“Offences of this nature are now prevalent. The courts are supposed to take a robust approach and not trivialise the offence. Cocaine is an extremely dangerous drug that can affect people’s mental stability,” Mashavira said.
