Chinese authorities have promised death or lengthy jail terms to Zimbabweans caught smuggling ivory and drugs into the country.

A notice posted outside the Chinese embassy here reads, “It has been observed that Zimbabweans knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly have been involved in trafficking prohibited substances into China. According to Chinese law, illegal buying or selling of, importing and exporting of the following products is a serious offence that attracts a death penalty or life imprisonment.”

The notice lists heroine, cocaine, marijuana, ‘narcotics’ and other drugs as well as ivory and its products.

Currently, at least three Zimbabwean women are serving lengthy terms in Chinese jails after being apprehended while trying to smuggle cocaine into the Far Eastern country.

Further comment could not immediately be obtained from the embassy. It was also not clear what prompted the warning or whether or not it was related to recent reports of massive killings of near-extinct black rhinos and export of their horns to China, or a result of a possible agreement between President Mugabe and his Chinese counterpart, above.

A report in the British tabloid, The Daily Mail recently named defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa among the culprits. The paper said wealthy Chinese were paying up to US$250 000 for a single rhino horn. The buyers believe the horns have aphrodisiac properties.

The Mail report said Mnangagwa had set up a notorious outfit known as the Crocodile Gang to hunt down the rhinos which are supposed to be protected by international law.

(Source)