As Kenyans continue to ponder what awaits 37-year-old Margaret Nduta, another Kenyan woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for drug trafficking.
The 55-year-old woman was sentenced to 50 years in prison by a Busia law court after the prosecution proved a narcotics trafficking case against her involving 3.9 kg of heroin.
She was found guilty of trafficking narcotics contrary to Section 4(a)(ii) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act No. 4 of 2022.
The court ordered her to pay a fine of Ksh50 million to avoid the prison term. This follows her arrest on March 10, 2023, at Busia One Border Point, where she was found in possession of 3.9 kg of heroin with a street value of Ksh11.8 million."
The sentencing comes at a time when Kenya is engaged in diplomatic talks with the government of Vietnam, urging for the repatriation of its citizen Margaret Nduta, who is facing execution after being convicted of smuggling over two kilograms of narcotics.
This followed her apprehension at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the largest transport hubs in the Asian nation.
On Thursday, March 6, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced Nduta to execution, reinforcing the nation's harsh stance on narcotics-related crimes.
On Monday, a team of representatives from Kenya’s embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, reportedly travelled to Hanoi, Vietnam, in a last-minute effort to save Nduta from the looming execution.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei revealed on Monday that Kenya’s ambassadors from Thailand had travelled to Vietnam to negotiate clemency for the 37-year-old.
Sing’Oei noted that Kenya's representatives in Thailand would also negotiate a stay of Nduta’s execution to allow further engagement between Kenya and the Vietnamese government.
Elsewhere, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested two suspects—a Kenyan and a foreigner from Burundi—after they were found cultivating marijuana on a half-acre parcel of land in Kidifamaco Estate, Kikuyu, Kiambu.
“The discovery and subsequent apprehension of the two followed a tip-off from a concerned member of the public, who noted that some unholy herbs were greening Kidifamaco Estate, making their maize and potato plantations look like a big joke,” a statement from the DCI added.
