Convicted cocaine trafficker may face two prison sentences

Convicted cocaine trafficker Jumar Omar Mbawala could face two prison sentences - here and in his home country of Tanzania.

Mbawala, an illegal immigrant, was today sentenced in the High Court at Auckland on 18 charges of importing cocaine and charges of possession of cocaine and supplying the drug.

He received 12 years on the importing charges, with concurrent terms of 10 years apiece on the possession and supplying charges.

He will serve a minimum 5 years in prison and will be sent back to Tanzania at the completion of his sentence.

But his eventual expulsion from New Zealand could expose the 31-year-old to double jeopardy, as there is a chance he will have to serve his sentence all over again in Tanzania.

His lawyer, Hugh Leabourn, could not yesterday confirm whether his client would be thrown straight into prison on his return, but had been told by Mbawala's mother that it was a possibility.

Mr Leabourn told the Herald after today's sentencing that he had been unable to clarify the position with the Tanzanian Consulate in Australia.

The Herald's attempts to find out what would likely happen to Mbawala also proved unsuccessful.

Mbawala had been in New Zealand illegally for more than three years at the time of his arrest in May last year.

He had arrived in New Zealand in 1996 as a stowaway aboard a ship from South Africa, but ultimately failed to gain refugee status and residency.

Mbawala was arrested after Customs intercepted a plastic courier package of cocaine, concealed inside a black-and-white picture of an African woman sent from Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital.

Further enquiries established Mbawala had received numerous previous shipments over a six-month period, totalling about 2kg and valued at almost $800,000. He was carrying $6000 in cash and a set of electronic scales at the time of his arrest, the court was told.

One police test showed the cocaine to be approximately 43 per cent pure. However, were it to be further "cut" for sale at street level, the drugs would have been worth closer to $3 million, Crown prosecutor Jonathan Down told Justice Patricia Courtney yesterday.

He said Mbawala was "right up there" in the hierarchy of the organisation importing the cocaine, and his rented Gulf Harbour home was full of numerous goods, paid for in cash.

Mbawala's customers included Auckland businessman John Francis Waterworth, who last month pre-empted his own High Court trial by pleading guilty to 16 counts, including supplying cocaine, supplying Ecstasy and conspiring to supply the drugs.

Waterworth ran a drug-dealing business that ultimately tarnished the reputations of a number of high-profile New Zealanders, including former All Black Marc Ellis and rugby league player Brent Todd.

Waterworth is due in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing next week.