Story by Tafadzwa Mavhangira
A 27-year-old Latvian national, Vitalis Kudrjasovs has been caged for 15 years after attempting to smuggle 8.35 kilogrammes of heroin through the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
The court heard that in September 2022, the India-bound convict checked in at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, cleared all the customs formalities and handed in his luggage for baggage clearance.
Kudrjasovs’s luggage was flagged at the ground scanner after Airport Aviation Security personnel noticed suspicious contents.
Subsequent searches in his presence revealed four packages containing heroin which were stashed in some compartments in the luggage.
In addition to serving 15 years in prison, he was also fined US$5 000, failure of which he will serve an additional five years in jail.
