(ZNBC)-The Kasama Magistrates’ Court has sentenced 12 fish traders to two months imprisonment after finding then guilty of being in unlawful possession of fish.
The convicts from Mpulungu and Kasama districts admitted the charge when they appeared before KASAMA Magistrate JOE SAMBOKO on Friday.
The 11 women and a man were charged with unlawful possession of 27 bags of fresh and dry fish on December 28, 2022 as they had no documentation of origin of the fish.
This was after Fisheries officers intercepted the mini-bus they were travelling on from Mpulungu en-route to Kasama.
In mitigation, the convicts pleaded with the court to exercise leniency on them, with others saying they were widows and double orphaned and that their families whom they look after may suffer, if sent to prison.
Kasama resident Magistrate SAMBOKO said he had taken into consideration the convicts’ mitigation, but stated that he was enforcing the law the government has put in place.
Government has imposed a fish ban which commenced on 1st December and ends on 1st March , 2023
