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A recent study showed that 34 countries still handed down the death penalty for drug offences like manufacturing and trafficking.
Pellets of cocaine expelled from the stomach of Pauline Mbangula in 2024. Picture: Supplied / Saps
Police have warned South Africans, especially young women, against the possible punishment for drug trafficking.
The alert comes after a female drug mule arrested at OR Tambo International Airport was sentenced last week to eight years in prison.
The sentence is at the low end of the legal scale, as a recent report showed that several nations still execute drug traffickers.
Prison for drug mule
Pauline Mbangula was arrested in September last year when she was found to be carrying at least 68 small pellets of cocaine in her stomach.
The 30-year-old Namibian arrived in South Africa from Sao Paulo and was soon the subject of a medical examination.
The Kempton Park Magistrates Court handed her an eight-year sentence, although three of those were wholly suspended.
Mbangula told the court that she was lured to Brazil by a man she had recently met under the guise of going on a holiday.
“Upon arrival in Brazil, she was then forced to swallow the drugs and traffic them to South Africa,” confirmed national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
The Namibian is one of more than 20 individuals arrested at Johannesburg’s main airport in the last 12 months.
“The regular arrests of drug mules should send a stern warning that police in South Africa and in particular at this port of entry are always on high alert to clamp down on criminality,” stated Mathe.
International punishments.
A recent study released by Harm Reduction International (HRI) shows that 34 countries retained the death penalty for drug offences.
HRI stated that at least 615 people were executed for drug offences in 2024, predominantly in China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Singapore.
“Executions are assumed to have been carried out in North Korea and Vietnam, on which information is lacking due to state secrecy and censorship,” HRI stated.
Additionally, 377 offenders were sentenced to death in 19 counties, while at least 2 300 offenders across 19 countries were on death row for drug charges.
“In the 34 countries that retain the death penalty for drug offences, capital punishment is typically applied for cultivating and manufacturing controlled substances, and for smuggling, trafficking or importing or exporting controlled substances,” stated the report.
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