An elderly Swedish man who was arrested at an airport in Zimbabwe with 3 kilogrammes of heroin bound for Thailand earlier this month appeared in court yesterday.
On April 8, detectives from Zimbabwe’s CID Drugs and Narcotics Harare received information that 71 year old Hans Arne Ingemar Pettersson was in possession of drugs that he intended to smuggle to Thailand on a Qatar Airways flight.
Detectives headed to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare where they found Pettersson in the departures hall. They identified him by his clothes and passport. Pettersson was pushing a trolley carrying two bags, a pink one and a black one.
Officials searched the bags to find brown powder – suspected to be dangerous drugs – inside a plastic bag stashed in a secret compartment inside the pink bag. The plastic bag was tested and found to contain 3 kilogrammes of heroin with a street value of US$3.4 million (117 million baht) in Zimbabwe.
Pettersson was arrested and detained under charges of unlawful dealing in dangerous drugs. He was remanded in custody and asked to request bail from the High Court, which was rejected.
Yesterday, the drug mule appeared before regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje, who postponed his trial to May 15.
The trial was delayed after Pettersson told the court that he cannot speak or understand English and needed an interpreter according to his rights.
In January, Thai authorities seized 30 kilogrammes of heroin hidden in puppy pads, believed to be headed to Hong Kong. Police arrested a Hong Konger and a Thai national.
The Hong Konger told police there were more drugs at a second property, where police found a further 14 kilogrammes of heroin and 21 grammes of “Ice,” or methamphetamine. The drugs had a collective value of 30 million baht.
In May later year, three women were arrested in Itarsi in India with 87.8 million baht worth of heroin which they had smuggled into the country on a commercial flight from Thailand.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.