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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
A 29-year-old woman from Mhondoro was last Friday fined $1 500 after she was intercepted by police detectives in Beitbridge en-route to South Africa with a consignment of 85 boxes of export quality cigarettes worth $10 800.

Needmore Chinembiri, of Chief Makwavarara area, was intercepted at a truck stop in the border town trying to transfer the contraband into a South Africa-bound truck.

She was convicted on her own plea of guilty to contravening a section of the Customs and Excise Act when she appeared before Mr Goodwill Mavenge.

Chinembiri was initially slapped with 12 months imprisonment with an option of a fine.

The cigarettes were seized as part of the sentence.

Prosecuting, Mr Foster Abheki told the court that on 15 July, the accused left Harare in a South African-registered truck with a consignment of cigarettes which she wanted to smuggle into South Africa.

He said Chinembiri ran out of lucky when police detectives on an anti-smuggling operation got wind of her adventure.

They pounced on her at a local truck stop before she could transfer the contraband into another vehicle.

The detectives asked the accused to show legal documents authorising her to deal in goods liable for export and she failed, leading to her arrest.

The 75 boxes of Pacific Blue and five of Dullas cigarettes were seized by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority together with the truck.

The loot was valued at $10 800 and the State stood to lose $8 000 in excise revenue.

Smuggling of drugs, explosives and cigarettes has become rife at the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, forcing the authorities in both countries to scale up joint patrols.

The South African Revenue Services reportedly charges high rates for cigarettes imports, a development which has resulted in a marked increase in cases of smuggling between Zimbabwe and South Africa. A box of cigarettes is sold for an average of $135 on the official market (Zimbabwe) and R8 000 in South Africa.