A SOUTH African woman, Thandeka Jack (34), who was arrested on charges of smuggling 2,44kg of cocaine into the country from Brazil at the beginning of the year, was yesterday sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Harare magistrate.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
Jack of KwaThena in Johannesburg, will serve anr effective eight-year jail term after Harare magistrate Bianca Makwande conditionally suspended two years.
Makwande said she had taken into consideration that Jack was a first offender, a woman and of ill health.
Jack had tried to convince the court without success that there was a luggage mix up at the airport and denied that the bag was hers.
The court heard that an Angolan plane landed at Robert Mugabe International Airport around 3pm and during immigration clearance Jack’s red suitcase passed through the scanner and was tagged for physical examination.
The court further heard that Jack used the green route as if she did not have anything to declare and was stopped by Zimra officials who alerted detectives from Drugs and Narcotics stationed at the airport and demanded to search her bags.
The detectives, together with Zimra officials, searched Jack’s red suitcase leading to the discovery of 125 black bobbins of white sewing thread with whitish powder suspected to be cocaine stashed inside holes.
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A test conducted in Jack’s presence was positive for cocaine. The cocaine-stashed bobbins weighed 2,44kg with a street value of $195 200. Ephraim Zinyandu appeared for the State.
