Passport puzzle in 'SA mule' case

26 April 2015 - 16:41 By Suthentira Govender

The South African high commission in New Delhi is investigating how a woman detained in India for drug smuggling obtained the passport number of a Free State pensioner. The woman, identified as 22-year-old Lynette Nosipho, was nabbed at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday last week, allegedly in possession of 19kg of narcotics valued at more than R100000.The drugs - 17kg of pseudoephedrine, a popular party drug, and 2kg of heroin - were concealed in women's shoes, a laptop bag and arm guards used by cricketers.India's Central Industrial Security Force said this week that Nosipho's passport stated she was a South African citizen. Spokesman Hemendra Singh said she had been travelling on a tourist visa. "As far as we understand, Nosipho is South African," he said.But the high commission and the Department of International Relations and Co-operation said they had not been notified of the arrest.Instead, when the department checked Nosipho's passport, it emerged that it did not belong to her."The passport number has been checked and does not match the name Lynette Nosipho," said department spokesman Nelson Kgwete."The real passport number was issued to a 70-year-old in the Free State with a different name."He said the high commission was trying to establish who "the traveller is and how she obtained the passport".India's Narcotics Control Bureau has refused to divulge any details, saying it would "hamper the investigation".Nosipho is being held in a New Delhi prison.Patricia Gerber, director of Locked Up, a body that helps South Africans in foreign jails, said drug mules were known to use false travel documents."This latest case is giving South Africa a bad name, considering that the woman may not even be South African." ..

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