Woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking

A woman identified as Mary Mukami Mwangi has been jailed for 20 years after she was found guilty of drug trafficking.

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), she was found with 83 pellets of cocaine weighing 929 grammes at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

She was arrested two years ago while attempting to leave for Indonesia.

The war against drug trafficking has recently been intensified with the anti-narcotics police unit, under the DCI, getting an equipment boost from the U.S. Government.

Last month, a Tanzania citizen was also sentenced to 20 years of prison, in addition to a fine of Ksh.26.6 million.

The man was found guilty of trafficking 2.975 kilograms of heroin worth Ksh.8.9million after arriving in Lungalunga from Tanzania.

Another four suspects were seized at the JKIA barely three weeks ago.

A report by the DCI on September 13 said that two of the suspects identified as Mary Nyaguthie and Bernard Otieno Oduor emitted 18 and 35 pellets of narcotics respectively which they had swallowed with the aim of trafficking.

Interior CS Fred Matiang’i on the other hand warned that foreign drug dealers have increased their use of women as drug traffickers.

“They live with them and when police come to arrest them (the foreign drug dealers), they claim they are married to a Kenyan,” he said at a meeting with regional security heads in September.