Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Henrietta Rushwaya has been sentenced to 18 months, wholly suspended, for trying to smuggle 6kg of gold out of the country through Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in 2020.
She has also been fined US$5 000.
On November 1, High Court judge Justice Pisirayi Kwenda convicted Rushwaya (56) and remanded her in custody to November 10, 2023 for sentencing.
Rushwaya, however, denied the charges claiming that she picked the wrong bag while rushing to the airport.
On October 26, 2020, Rushwaya went through the VIP route at RGM International Airport, evading police checkpoints.
When she went through the scanning machine, a suspicious object was identified in her luggage, leading to her arrest following a physical search by a Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe security officer.
