Tanzanian woman jailed 15 years for drug trafficking

A Tanzanian woman will spend 15 years in jail for attempting to smuggle 6,9kg of heroin with a street value of over US$200 000. Fatima Musa Saguti was nabbed at the Harare International Airport before boarding a Kenyan Airways flight destined for Ghana on June 27.
The heroin was valued at US$207 000.

Saguti denied the charge of unlawfully dealing in dangerous drugs when her trial opened before Harare magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe.
She claimed that her fiance’s Zambian friend had given her the suitcase containing the dangerous drug to take to Ghana to his fiancée and was not aware of the contents.

After a fully contested trial, the court convicted Saguti of the offence in aggravating circumstances due to overwhelming evidence.
In Zimbabwe, crimes involving such drugs attract a mandatory sentence of not less than 15 years.
In passing sentence, Mr Mahwe noted that Saguti was part of a syndicate of drug traffickers, considering that the heroin was brought from Zambia.
He said she committed a very serious offence and in the absence of special circumstances, the offence attracts a mandatory sentence of not less than 15 years.

“The accused said she was sent with the suitcase by someone, surprisingly she did not check the contents to see if they tallied with the weight,” said Mr Mahwe.
“She said she was in Zimbabwe for five days but failed to tell the court where she was residing. She said she came into the country to look for her customer since she is in the business of buying and selling red-bull (an energy drink) but she also failed to reveal the identity of the said customer.

“With this conduct, the accused knew what she was doing and there are no special circumstances to warrant the court to disregard the mandatory sentence in her case,” he said.

Prosecutor Ms Memory Mukapa had earlier urged the court to impose a mandatory sentence on the basis that the way the offence was committed.
She said it was a well-planned crime.
Ms Mukapa said if it was not for the detecting machine at the airport, Saguti could have escaped unnoticed.

The prosecutor further told the court that Saguti’s passport showed that she was using the Zambia-Zimbabwe-Tanzania route frequently. - The Herald