HARARE – A 27-year-old Latvian national has been handed a 15-year jail term after he was found guilty of attempting to trafficking 8,3 kgs of heroin.
The crime was committed two years ago.
The accused, Vitalis Kurdrjasovs was convicted after a full trial.
On top of the 15 years, he was ordered to pay US$5,000 fine, in default he will serve five more years.
Tendai Tapi representing the state proved that the incident occurred on September 8 2022 at Robert Mugabe International Airport.
Kurdrjasovs intended to board an Ethiopian Airways plane which was bound for Addis Ababa enroute to India.
According to prosecutors, on the day of the offence, he checked in at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, cleared all the customs formalities and handed in his luggage for baggage clearance.
His luggage was flagged at the ground scanner after Airport Aviation Security personnel manning the scanner noticed some suspicious contents in it.
His two bags were subsequently searched in his presence, and four packages containing heroin were found stashed in some compartments in the bags.
Harare magistrate, Donald Ndirowei presided over the trial.
