The drug case against Lesedi Molapisi, a woman from Botswana, has not yet started in a court in Dhaka. But a number of African news outlets say that Molapisi will be executed or has already been executed for smuggling 3 kilograms of heroin into Bangladesh.
The Zimbabwe Mail said that the man, who was 30, was going to be killed on November 25. The same information was also reported by IOL, which cited The Zimbabwe Mail.
After the woman's family came forward and set the record straight, some news outlets, including and, reported that she is still alive.
There was no way to find out where the news outlets got the wrong information.
A lawyer for Molapisi, Chamon Afroza, told The Daily Star, "The news about Molapisi being executed in the drugs case is completely false."
"The court case hasn't even begun yet. On November 14, my client was brought before the court "she told me. "After looking into it, police charged Molapisi and another man in August of last year."
Molapisi was caught with 3.145 kg of heroin, worth about Tk 20 crore, on January 23 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. She took a Qatar Airways flight from South Africa to Doha and then to the airport.
Customs agents working with National Security Intelligence stopped her as she crossed the "green channel," which is for passengers who don't have anything to declare. After looking through her bags, the customs officers took the drugs.
The next day, Firoz Alam, an assistant customs officer at the Customs House in Dhaka, used the Narcotics Control Act to file a case against Molapisi at the Airport Police Station.
On August 17, an investigation officer at the same police station, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, who is also a sub-inspector, filed a charge sheet against Molapisi and one Mohibul Islam Masud with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka. The charge sheet said that Molapisi and Mohibul Islam Masud are active members of an international drug-smuggling ring.
During an investigation, police in Dhaka's Uttara Paschim area arrested Masud on January 26. He was the managing director of Mehrab Industries Limited.
On the charge sheet, it says, "Masud asked Molapisi to come to Bangladesh to do business, but she couldn't show any proof that her business was legitimate."
"Before she came to Bangladesh, Molapisi stole three handbags from her friend Evans Chukaka, who lived in Johannesburg, South Africa. The heroin was hidden inside the bags," the charge sheet said.
"During the investigation, no concrete evidence against Chukaka or his address was found, so he was not named in the charge sheet," it said.