Lesedi Molapisi: Botswana Woman NOT Executed In Bangladesh Over Drugs Smuggling

The fate of a Botswana woman, Lesedi Molapisi, who was caught trafficking drugs in Bangladesh, remains a mystery.

Many news outlets were reporting yesterday that she had been executed. But, her father Goitsemodimo Molapisi told Newzroom Afrika she was still alive.

He said he was receiving news of her, via an intermediary, contracted by an African association in Bangladesh to assist her. In a message, last week, he noted that “she says she’s fine and as we speak she is mentioning the trial hasn’t yet started.”

He added she had been taken to court on November 14 for “a mention” but the case had not yet gone to trial.

A Botswana national who was arrested at Bangladesh’s largest and main airport, the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) early this year with over 3kg of heroin in her luggage was reportedly executed last Friday.

The 30-year-old Lesedi Molapisi, arrived at the airport on a Qatar Airways flight from South Africa via Doha with heroin drugs and was arrested upon landing.

The South East Asian country’s law enforcement said they nabbed Lesedi Molapisi after intercepting her in the “Green Channel”, a passage for passengers with no luggage to declare. Her luggage was searched and 3 kilograms of heroin was found concealed inside.

After scanning her bag, the customs officials seized over 3kg of a heroin-like granular substance.

At the time of her arrest, Bangladeshi media quoted the deputy commissioner of Customs Sanuwarul Kabir saying:

We have information that cocaine is being smuggled but officials from the Department of Narcotics Control primarily confirmed that the seized item is heroin. We will send the samples for laboratory tests.

On Friday, social media was awash with news that Lesedi Molapisi, the Motswana woman, was due to be executed for drug smuggling in Bangladesh.