32 year old Mpulungu ‘drug trafficker’ gets 3 year jail sentenced

The Mpulungu magistrate court today sentenced a 32 year old farmer to three years imprisonment for cultivating 1.2 tones of marijuana.

The court sentenced Wisdom Simuyemba of Ntenda Village in Mpulungu after he pleaded guilty of cultivating marijuana, contrary to Zambian laws.

Simuyemba, who was facing two counts, pleaded guilty to both counts and in mitigation asked the court to exercise maximum lenience because he was looking after his siblings whose parents are dead.

He however admitted that he had no right or lawful authority to traffic in and cultivates marijuana.

In the first count, Simuyemba was charged with trafficking in 5.4 kilogrammes of marijuana, a herbal product of cannabis sativa, contrary to section 6, cap 96 as read with statutory instrument number 119 of 1995 of the Laws of Zambia.

He was in the second count charged with cultivating a field of 1.2 tones of marijuana, contrary to section 9 of chapter 96 of the laws of Zambia as read with statutory instrument number 119 of 1995.

Reading the facts before a packed Mpulungu court room today, public prosecutor Oscar Nyambe said on 8th November 2009, DEC officers received information that Simuyemba was dealing in psychotropic substances.

He said two days later, the DEC officers raided Simuyemba’s house in Ntenda village and retrieved a vegetable matter weighing 5.4 kilograms from separate spots in the house. They suspected the vegetable to be marijuana.

Mr. Nyambe said Simuyemba later led the officers to his fields where they uprooted marijuana weighing about 1.2 tones.

He said part of the marijuana found on Simuyemba had since been taken to UTH for laboratory tests and analysis report.

And in passing the sentence, magistrate Miyato Muyambango noted that from the evidence adduced before the court, it was clear that Simuyemba had been trafficking in marijuana.

He observed that drug trafficking cases have become prevalent in Mpulungu hence the urgent need to mete out stiffer penalties to deter would be offenders.

Magistrate Muyambango further said if left unchecked, drug related cases may soon escalate to uncontrollable levels that may pose a danger to the security of the country, especially that Mpulungu was a border town.

He sentenced Simuyemba to three years imprison with hard labor for the first count.

In the second count, magistrate Muyambango ordered Simuyemba to pay K90, 000 or go to prison for six months in default. He said the sentences were to run consecutively.

ZANIS