A 45-year-old Zimbabwean woman has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for the importation of a controlled drug and another 5 years for trafficking a controlled drug.
The sentences will be served concurrently (at the same time) meaning she will be behind bars for 5 years only.
Elsie Vambe was arrested on the 26th of October after the Anti-Narcotics Bureau found 1.51kg of heroin and 503.70kg of cocaine that she had hidden in the toilets on an Air Seychelles flight from Johannesburg, South Africa.
Vambe appeared before Judge Mohan Burhan who noted that she is a first-time offender and she also pleaded guilty to all charges.
Vambe is the first foreign national to be sentenced on controlled drug charges in Seychelles this year.
Seychelles has a zero-tolerance drug policy and has recently put in place several measures to combat the trafficking of illicit drugs on its shores.
It is common for many Zimbabweans to migrate to other countries in search of greener pastures. Some are successful and manage to secure decent jobs that help them take care of family back home. some end up in vulnerable positions that take the forms of prostitution, poor jobs and sometimes human trafficking.
Vambe is the second Zimbabwean to make the headlines this week alone. We also recently shared the experience of a Zimbabwean woman that went to Kuwait hoping to work as a maid but ended up suffering at the hands of her employer.