A Kenyan-born woman living in the United Kingdom (UK) has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for smuggling cocaine between the European country and Australia.
Australian Southwark Crown Court delivered the ruling on Wednesday, January 31, after the 59-year-old woman was found guilty in a case where her husband was a co-defendant.
The ruling followed the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Australia's Border Force seizure of 512 kilos of cocaine worth Ksh 12 billion (approx. 57 million pounds) after it arrived at Syndey in May 2021, via a commercial flight.
The authorities traced the metal boxes that concealed the narcotics to a private front freight services company in the UK that had been in operation since 2015 and was registered under the aforementioned suspects.
Her husband's fingerprints were on the plastic wrappings of the metal toolboxes while receipts detailing the purchase of the said metal boxes were found at their UK home.
NCA further discovered that 37 consignments had been sent to Australia since June 2019. Of which, 22 were dummy runs and 15 contained cocaine.
Following their arrest on June 21, 2021, NCA also found a substantial amount of cash and gold-plated silver bars at their residence in Hanwell, London.
The officials further uncovered almost 3 million pounds in cash concealed in boxes and suitcases at a storage unit in West London.
However, the couple denied the charges of transnational drug trafficking and of money laundering.
Meanwhile, back in their ancestral home of India, the couple are also facing charges of murdering their adopted son.
This was after the 11-year-old was found stabbed and left by the road on February 8, 2017, in Gopal, Gujarat province and the Indian judicial system had placed inquests of extradition.
All while the jury at Southwark Crown Court convicted them of 12 counts of exportation and 18 counts of money laundering.
