A 35-year-old Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) member has been sentenced to an effective 30 months in prison for smuggling 13kg of marijuana into South Africa through the Beitbridge Border Post.
Sikelela Ndlovu, from Cowdray Park in Bulawayo and currently deployed in Harare, initially fled when security officers at the border post confronted him, but was arrested later.
His co-accused, 21-year-old Clifford Murungweni of Beitbridge, was acquitted after a full trial. Both appeared before Magistrate Charity Maphosa at the Beitbridge Regional Magistrate’s Court.
Ndlovu was sentenced to 48 months in prison, with 18 months suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. He will serve an effective 30 months. The court also ordered that the 13kg of marijuana be forfeited to the state.
Prosecutor Mercy Nyathi told the court that on 10 March, at around 00:10, police officers deployed at the Old Bridge illegal crossing point stopped Ndlovu and Murungweni. The two were walking from Zimbabwe toward the South African border, carrying two black suitcases.
When stopped, Ndlovu dropped his suitcase and ran off, leaving Murungweni with both bags. Police searched the suitcases and found 20 transparent packs of dagga. Each pack contained four smaller packets, making a total of 80 packets.
Murungweni was arrested and taken to CID Drugs along with the recovered dagga for further investigation.
The court heard that later that same day, at around 07:00, Murungweni’s sister lured Ndlovu back to Beitbridge Border Post, where he was arrested on arrival.
The seized marijuana weighed 13.522 kilograms and was taken into police custody.
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