A 34-YEAR-OLD South African woman has been arrested on charges of possessing cocaine with a street value of over $430 000. Thandeka Jack, of Johannesburg, appeared before Harare magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa yesterday facing charges of dealing in dangerous drugs and was denied bail and remanded to February 6 for trial.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
It is the State’s case that on December 31, detectives from Drugs and Narcotics stationed at Robert Mugabe International Airport were on duty together with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and other State agents deployed at the airport.
At around 3pm an Angolan flight landed and during the clearing of passengers, Jack’s suitcase passed through a scan and was tagged for physical examination.
It is alleged Jack then went to the green route as if she did not have anything to declare and was stopped by Zimra officials, who then alerted the police and demanded to search her bags.
The State alleges Jack then showed signs of discomfort, which led the team to suspect her of having an illicit consignment. The detectives, together with Zimra officials, conducted a search of Jack’s red suitcase leading to the recovery of 125 black bobbins of white sewing thread with whitish powder suspected to be cocaine stashed inside.
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A test analysis was conducted in Jack’s presence and the results were positive to cocaine. The bobbins of the sewing thread stashed with cocaine weighed 5,382kg with a street value of $430 560.
Sebastian Mutizirwa appeared for the State.