Chirundu man accused of smuggling 12 boxes of cigarettes

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:29:49 +0000

By OLIVER SAMBOKO

A 32-YEAR-OLD Chirundu resident, Innocent Munsaka, has denied one count of smuggling 12 boxes of cigarettes in the Siavonga Magistrates Court.

Particulars of the offence were that on March 11, Munsaka jointly and whilst acting together with other unknown people at Chirundu one stop border post, smuggled into Zambia 12 boxes of Pacific Blue cigarettes.

Magistrate Edward Banda has since found Munsaka with a case to answer and adjourned the matter to April 11 for defence.

Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean national has been sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour by the Siavonga Magistrates Court for entering and staying in Zambia without valid documents.

Facts before court were that on March 9 while on patrol, police came upon a person who they came to know as Nickson Mutana and suspected him to be an illegal immigrant. Police arrested the suspect and alerted the Immigration Department officers who interviewed and later charged Mutana with the subject offence.

Mutana of Tandazai village in Makoni district Zimbabwe, crossed into Zambia through the international waters of Lake Kariba using a dink canoe and has been illegally staying in the country since June 2016.

In mitigation, Mutana pleaded with the court not to slap him with a custodial sentence as he was a first offender and breadwinner for a big family both in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

He said life in Zimbabwe was hard and that was the reason he risked his life to cross into Zambia in search for greener pastures.

Passing sentence, Magistrate Banda noted with concern the high cases of illegal entry into Zambia by Zimbabwean nationals which he attributed to the porous border between the two countries.

He said although the two countries enjoyed cordial relations, Zimbabweans wishing to visit or settle in Zambia should follow the law.