Werner Menges
1 July 2009
FOUR Angolan nationals who in mid-April were caught carrying cocaine into Namibia inside their digestive systems were yesterday sentenced to eight years' imprisonment each.
"Your aim was to do this for a profit, at the expense of the very fabric of Namibian society," Magistrate Claudia Claasen told the four admitted drug smugglers when she sentenced them in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court.
Antonio Twema (41), Anacleto Mubine (41), Nelson Francisco Alexandre (26) and Kunga Baberto (40) each pleaded guilty to a charge of dealing in a dangerous dependence-producing drug on May 20.
Each of them admitted that he brought cocaine into Namibia when they all arrived at Hosea Kutako International Airport on April 15.
The four men landed at the airport on a flight that came from Johannesburg. They had previously travelled to Johannesburg on a flight that originated in São Paulo in Brazil.
The four men admitted that, in São Paulo, each of them swallowed numerous plastic-covered capsules of cocaine - each about four to five centimetres long and about two centimetres wide - and then carried the drugs from South America to Africa and into Namibia inside their digestive tracts.
Twema brought 455 grams of cocaine, valued at N$227 500, into the country, while Mubine had 860 grams of the drug, valued at N$430 000, in his intestines.
Alexandre had 1,33 kilograms of cocaine, with a Namibian street value of N$665 000, inside his body. Baberto was carrying 590 grams of the drug, valued at N$295 000, in his digestive system.
The drugs had a combined weight of 3,235 kg and would be worth N$1,617 million on the local street market.
The four men all claimed that the cocaine was destined for Angola.
Magistrate Claasen was not convinced by these claims, though.
Noting the four men's claims on this score, as well as other evidence, such as the fact that they received visitor's entry permits to remain in Namibia for between one and 30 days, she concluded that it rather appeared that the drugs were indeed destined for Namibia.
Even if the cocaine was in fact meant to be taken to Angola, Namibia still has a duty to prevent trafficking in such drugs when they are found in Namibia, she said.
She also acknowledged that the four men had apologised to the Namibian public for having entered the country while on a drug trafficking trip.
They however failed to make a full disclosure of the facts surrounding their involvement in the crime, she commented: "Each of you remained tight-lipped about your connections in the underworld."
Each of them claimed that on a trip to São Paulo to buy clothing and hair products to be sold in Luanda, he was approached either by a Mr Umberto or a Mr Anderson who then persuaded him to swallow cocaine "bullets" in order to courier the drugs back to Africa in that way.
Their silence on further details about this operation - such as who the people were who were supposed to take delivery of the cocaine - showed that the four men ultimately remained loyal to their cause of drug trafficking, the Magistrate said.
"(A)ll the things point to the fact that you are rather part of a well-oiled syndicate that needs to be eradicated," she said.
The fact that each of them was willing to risk his own health and safety by swallowing substances as dangerous as cocaine, showed their audacity and the extent of the greed that was driving them, she said.
She added that none of them was caught in such utter poverty that he had to resort to drug trafficking to make a living.
Each of them could still afford to buy return air tickets from Luanda to São Paulo after all, she noted.
She also said she had sympathy for the fact that each of the four men plays an important role in his household and family as a breadwinner, and that the family of each will be hit by the consequences of the crime the men committed.
The court however could also not lose sight of the fact that ultimately the four men themselves are to blame for this situation that their families are now finding themselves in, she said.
Defence lawyers Christian Nambahu and Vetu Uanivi asked the Magistrate on Monday to sentence the men to a fine, or at most to pay a fine and serve a partially or wholly suspended jail term. Sentencing them to pay a fine would be tantamount to giving them a little slap on the wrist for something that is very serious, Magistrate Claasen said yesterday.
Meriam Kenaruzo conducted the prosecution against the four.
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