KARACHI, March 31: A Zambian woman was sentenced to seven years in prison by a special court for control of narcotic substances in a drugs trafficking case when she entered a guilty plea on Thursday.

Twenty-seven-year-old Rosaria Mubanga was arrested at Karachi airport in February after two kilos of heroin was found in her luggage.

The judge of the special court-II for control of narcotic substances, Sanaullah Khan Ghoury, who conducted the trial, also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 and ordered that in case of non-payment, the convict would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

When the accused was produced in court on Thursday, she filed an application for pleading guilty and said that understanding the gravity of the sentence she confessed to the commission of the offence without being under any undue influence.

The court in its order observed that it had been seen that in order to achieve their nefarious objects the drugs peddlers were adopting obnoxious devices and engaging womenfolk and children to commit this crime and ultimately these accused sought mercy on humanitarian grounds. Under these circumstances, the court took the lenient view and awarded lesser punishment to the accused, it added.

According to the prosecution, acting on a tip-off the drug enforcement cell of the customs intercepted the Zambian national at the international departure lounge as she arrived to leave for Johannesburg via Dubai on Feb 8, 2011 and after a thorough examination of her luggage, the customs officials recovered two kilos of heroin, which was concealed in hairclips.

A case (FIR No 7/2011) was registered against the woman under Section 6/9-C of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997 at the customs police station.

The court extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code to the convict and remanded her back to prison along with the conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of the awarded sentence.