Drug mule returns to SA after release in Brazil

CONVICTED drug mule Tessa Beetge will finally return home after being incarcerated for five-and-a-half years in a Brazilian jail.

SAfm reported in their 11pm news bulletin that her father, Gert Swanepoel, had received confirmation from the International Relations Department that his daughter had been released.

“I can’t wait to see Tessa. I have been longing to see her for such a long time, I’ve missed her,” said Swanepoel on the radio.

A former KwaZulu-Natal resident, Beetge was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment when she was caught carrying 10kg of cocaine for Sheryl Cwele and Nigerian Frank Nabolisa in her luggage at the Sao Paulo Airport in 2008.

Late last year, authorities were considering releasing her on parole, but neither Beetge nor Swanepoel were happy about the idea.

“My wife and I always said that we would prefer for her not to be released on parole, especially in a foreign country like that,” Swanepoel said.

“She has no money and no family to stay with and we would not be able to support her from this side.”

While Beetge has been in prison, she has missed her two daughters growing up and the death of her mother in October, who passed away after suffering organ failure in East London.

Cwele and Nabolisa were found guilty of using Beetge to smuggle drugs from Brazil into South Africa.