Sheryl Cwele, the wife of South Africa's intelligence minister, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for drug trafficking

Cwele, married to Siyabonga Cwele, was convicted of recruiting women to smuggle drugs into the country. Her accomplice, Nigerian national Frank Nabolisa, received the same sentence. Allegations of drug trafficking surfaced in 2009 after the arrest of a South African woman caught in Brazil with cocaine worth $300,000. Tessa Beetge is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence in Sao Paulo. She was found with 22lb of cocaine in her luggage. There was a solemn atmosphere at the Pietermaritzburg High Court when the pair arrived for sentencing. Delivering the sentence, Judge Piet Koen described their offenses as serious. They could have received up to 15 years in prison.