Court orders illegal charcoal importers pay K250 000
A court in Mzimba has fined five women K250000 each for importing 180 bags of charcoal illegally from Zambia and being found in possession of forest products illegally.
A vehicle carrying the Zambian charcoal
The Mzimba Senior Resident Magistrate court ruled on Tuesday that failure to pay the fine, the women would face a jail term of 30 months each.
They were also fined K100, 000 each for possession of the forest products or serve a jail term of 24 months in default.
They were arrested late last month .
Senior Resident Magistrate Mathews Msiska has also ordered the driver of the vehicle used in the importation of the charcoal belonging to the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia and his four assistants to pay a fine of K150,000 each or serve a jail term of 30 months each for trafficking forest products.
The court also ordered that the vehicle used in the operation be returned to the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia as this was the first time it has been used in trafficking charcoal.
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