Chikwanda Chisendele was a first-year civil engineering student at the Copperbelt University.[1] Police arrested Chisendele on a Monday.[1] He was 21 years old.[1] He was convicted of planning to sell cannabis cakes.[1] A judge sentenced him to write a 50-page essay on drug use.[1] He was also ordered to write letters of apology to his university, his parents and Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission before 15 November.[1] The judge gave him a two-year suspended jail term, meaning he would not spend time in jail unless he committed another offence.[1]

He was caught with cannabis-laced cakes weighing more than 1kg (2.2lb), according to police.[1] Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission said it had intensified efforts to catch people baking cakes containing cannabis.[1] The agency warned universities to be alert to cakes and scones laced with cannabis being trafficked among students.[1]

Under Zambian law, marijuana is classed as a dangerous drug and is illegal to possess.[1]