HARARE – A drug smuggler fainted on Tuesday after she was jailed for 12 years by a Harare court.
South African Shila Khumalo swallowed 60 balls of cocaine wrapped in plastic as she travelled from Brazil to Zimbabwe in May.
The contraband was valued at Z$7,8 million (about US$90,000).
Medics were called into the courtroom on Tuesday after Khumalo collapsed in the dock as chief magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi handed her a 12-year prison sentence. She will serve 10 years after 24 months were conditionally suspended.
The court heard that on May 9, Zimbabwean airport authorities were alerted that Khumalo was smuggling cocaine and would arrive at RGM International Airport the following day on an Ethiopian Airways flight.
On May 10, acting on the information, a team of detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics, operatives from the Central Intelligence Organisation and agents from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority intercepted her when she landed.
A luggage and body search was conducted leading to the recovery of 53 plastic-wrapped cocaine balls stashed in a pair of black socks and concealed in her panties which she was wearing.
An X-Ray examination revealed that she had ingested another 60 balls of the dangerous drug. Her trial was delayed as police waited for her to excrete all the contraband.
Prosecutors said Khumalo is linked to a drug syndicate operating out of Harare whose members are still at large as they called for an exemplary sentence.
