Lusaka — Olivia Shilunga, a Namibian business executive, has been jailed for five years by a Zambian court for trafficking in drugs.

Shilunga, 34, was sent to prison by Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate Charles Kafunda on Thursday, August 19 after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

She was convicted on two charges of importing, and trafficking in, 1.2 kilograms of cocaine.

According to facts, Shilunga was arrested on August 7 this year at Lusaka International Airport upon her arrival from Brazil for trafficking in cocaine, which she had swallowed and stuffed in her private parts.

Upon her detention, she was admitted to the University Teaching Hospital where she had to expel the cocaine from her bowels after undergoing medical treatment to induce the expulsion of the narcotics, as she had failed to naturally release them due to some medical complications she developed, said Drug Enforcement Commission spokesperson John Nyawali.

Shilunga was the ninth woman to be arrested at Lusaka International Airport in the last eight months for trafficking in cocaine, and the fourth to use the dehumanising method of concealing drugs in private parts.

The commission said it was concerned about the increasing cases of drug trafficking, particularly by women.

Nyawali told The Southern Times that drug trafficking in the SADC region as a whole, and Zambia in particular, could be traced back to the 1980s when the region witnessed a high increase in drug trafficking activities, especially involving depressant drugs such as methaqualone (mandrax).

"The activities have increased ever since and the range of illicit drugs as well as the mode of concealment has been changing from time to time and from one place to another."

However, the region, and Zambia to be specific, has witnessed an unprecedented increase in drug trafficking activities in the last two years and the type of people engaged (especially women) have been more surprising in that they are least expected to be involved in criminal activities like drug trafficking.

According to the drug enforcement agency, the hosting of the AFCON cup in Angola in January,and the hosting of the World Cup by South Africa, contributed greatly to the sharp increase in drug trafficking activities among the people of Southern Africa.

"As you might be aware, football games are synonymous with excitement and energy, therefore, stimulant drugs like cocaine or a mixture of different stimulant drugs were ideal for these major football activities.

"Realising that security was going to be tighter during the hosting of these events, especially the World Cup, drug barons started stockpiling these narcotics and psychotropic substances long before the events, hence an increase in the last two years," Nyawali added.

In addition, Nyawali said, the SADC region has become a cosmopolitan region and home to a lot of people with different cultures and interests. On average, the economies of most of the countries in the SADC have been recording growths.

This has made it possible for people to have disposable income for recreation and some people have found drug abuse to be one such activity.

On the other hand, the region was previously used as a route for illicit drugs which still ended up in developed regions of the world like Europe and America, but the scenario is changing rapidly. The region is rapidly becoming a consumer.

"Drug traffickers are always dynamic and will from time to time change drug-trafficking routes. This time around, they find it seemingly easy or convenient to use Africa as a drug-trafficking route.

"The trouble is finding the real culprits behind drug trafficking. People who are caught with illicit drugs will not reveal who the real owners of the drugs are."

This, according to Nyawali, is because couriers do not genuinely know who hired them to carry drugs as they pass through the hands of many people before they are tasked to deliver the contraband to the designated place.

They won't know who bought them air tickets; they won't know who paid for their hotel bills and even who is supposed to receive the contraband at the end of the chain due to the top secrecy and cartels that surrounds the activity. - The Southern Times