A TANZANIAN drug smuggler died in Harare after swallowing 1,4kg of heroin worth US$112,000 – and then two associates tried to grab his body from a funeral parlour.
Police believe Ally Omari Mpili’s compatriot, Jumanne Ndumbogane, 33, and Mufungo Ngara, 39, of Mberengwa, planned to dissect his body and retrieve the drugs.
Ndumbogane, a resident of Pretoria, South Africa, and Ngara appeared before a Harare magistrate on Monday charged with dealing in dangerous drugs.
Tungamirai Chakurira, prosecuting, said a post mortem conducted at Parirenyatwa Hospital on October 25 showed Mpili had 60 small, sealed capsules full of heroin lodged in his guts.
Mpili had arrived by bus in Zimbabwe on October 19. He sought accommodation in Braeside and died on the same night after some of the capsules burst – releasing the drug into his intestines.
Police took his body to a funeral parlour in Harare where it was kept pending a post mortem.
On October 24, Ndumbogane and Ngara arrived at the funeral parlour and claimed the body but alert staff called the police.
Prosecutors say Mpili’s destination was South Africa. They believe Ndumbogane and Ngara intended to smuggle the drugs across the border after dismembering his corpse.
The duo were denied bail and remanded in custody to November 12.