A 41-year-old man from Harare has been sentenced to eight months in prison after unregistered medicines valued at more than US$4,800 were discovered in his luggage at Beitbridge Border Post.
Tapiwa Matienga, 41, of Budiriro, was convicted by the Beitbridge Magistrates' Court on a charge of unlawful possession of medicines.
The court imposed an eight-month jail term following the conviction.
The court heard that the incident occurred on August 17, 2026, at around 1800 hours, when a Diamond Route Coaches bus travelling on a cross-border route arrived at the Beitbridge border post.
As part of routine checks, ZIMRA officials ordered all passengers to offload their luggage for inspection.
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Five drums linked to Matienga were flagged and sent through a scanner.
The scan revealed that the drums contained pharmaceutical products that were not registered.
Border officials questioned members of the bus crew, who all identified Matienga as the owner of the five drums.
Following the identification, he was arrested and the consignment was seized.
An inventory conducted after the seizure listed the items as 96 bottles of Benylin cough syrup, 620 bottles of Broncleer cough syrup, 243 Astra pain tablets, and 5 bottles of Stilpant cough syrup.
Authorities estimated the street value of the unregistered medicines at US$4,820.00.
Matienga was subsequently taken to court where he was convicted and sentenced for being in possession of the unregistered medicines.
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