South African “dreadlock drug smuggler” Nolubabalo “Babsie” Nobanda’s trial began yesterday March 19 in Thailand, newspaper The New Age reported.
Nobanda, you may remember, was caught allegedly trying to smuggle 1.5kg of cocaine embedded in her fake dreadlocks into Bangkok’ Suvarnabhumi International Airport last December.
Nobanda’s mother Honjiswa Mbewu told New Age that Ntsiki Sandi, an lawyer, left for Thailand last week to prepare for the trial.
“Advocate Sandi is there to support her and to see how the trial will go in the few days and then he will come back to South Africa,” said Mbewu.
Nobanda reportedly told authorities after her arrest that she was supposed to meet someone at a hotel in Bangkok to hand over the drugs. She reportedly said she would had been paid R16 000 on her return to South Africa.
Her family had been raising funds so that Sandi could be able to visit her in the Asian country, Mbewu said. “We raised the funds for Sandi alone as it is costly to go there.”
Nobanda became the 12th South African to be arrested for drug trafficking in Thailand last year. She faces life imprisonment if convicted.
