A 71-YEAR-OLD Swedish national was arrested at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport after being found in possession of 3kg of heroin valued at $3,4 million which he reportedly intended to smuggle to Myanmar.
Hans Arne Ingemar Petersson, who was not represented, yesterday appeared before Harare magistrate Sandra Mupindu, who remanded him to April 24.
It is the State’s case that on April 8 this year, detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics in Harare received information from a source that the accused person was in possession of drugs which he intended to smuggle to Myammar.
The police waylaid Peterson at the airport as he checked in.
It is also alleged that while at the airport, detectives went to all airlines offices to check which airline the accused had checked in.
They found out that Petersson had been rejected by Qatar Airways since he was not in possession of a visa to Myanmar.
The detectives identified Petersson through the clothes he was wearing and his passport.
Detectives approached Petersson and requested to search his bags, leading to the seizure of some brown powder suspected to be dangerous drugs in a plastic bag stashed in a false compartment created in one of the bags.
Pertersson was taken to CID offices in Harare, where primary field tests were conducted in his presence on the seized brown powder which tested positive for heroin.
The seized heroin weighed 3kg and has a street value of $3 400 000 in Zimbabwe.