Many Kenyans have been jailed in foreign countries over drug trafficking.
Easy money is driving young Kenyans to serve as couriers for faceless drug barons, who operate behind the scenes. Before 2013, Floviance Owino was just a Mutumba dealer until she was lured into the business by a woman called Sharon Adhiambo, who was married to a Nigerian.
In May 2013, Floviance, who was a young mother of a three year old girl, was arrested at Guangzhou Baiyuan Airport for drug smuggling and sentenced to death by hanging. Because of diplomatic efforts by Kenya, her execution was suspended for two years, pending a review of her case.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs commenting on the case at that time stated, “If she doesn’t violate the law during the two-year suspension period, her death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.She will also be eligible for a reduction in the sentence if she has outstandingly good performance.” I don’t know what happened to Floviance thereafter, but l suspect her sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in China’s Guangzhou prison.
Sharon Adhiambo, the woman who recruited her, was well connected in the security circles that she hardly lasted a night in police custody. For a very long time, she operated the syndicate with her Nigerian boyfriend in pipeline estate but later fled to China.
In 2017, another Kenyan woman, Rose Achieng Ojala, was arrested in Malaysia and sentenced to death for trafficking inmethamphetamine. She had swallowed 68 capsules and kept three in her vagina. In Malaysia, drug traffickers are punished by execution. Her sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
In 2006 , Oliviah Singaniabe Munoko, 26, a fourth year Bachelor of Arts student, was jailed for smuggling about 1.8 kilogrammes of heroin to China. She was arrested by the Chinese authorities on March 10, 2006, at the Guangzhou Bai Yun International airport, where she had arrived from Malaysia. Because she cooperated with the authorities and convinced the judge that she engaged in the illicit trade because she needed money to settle her family’s financial problems, she was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Around that time two Kenyan students Ms Deborah Donde and Ms Emily Gathoni were in police custody after being found in the house of a marijuana dealer.The girls were later freed after blood samples returned positive results for marijuana.In June 2018, Mariam Mweke was arrested in New Delhi, India, alongside two Nigerian men. She was carrying 2.5 kgs of heroin.
In 2019, there were around 1200 Kenyans imprisoned in various jails around the world for drug related offences. 76 of them were in China and were mostly women who had been lured into the trade by drug traffickers who exploited their vulnerabilities.
Below are other Kenyans
1. Margaret Nduta-2023 Vietnam 4.3k heroin
2. Sarah wairimu- 2019 Malysia. 2k heroin
3. Elizabeth Wambui-2018 Dubai 4kg cocaine
4. Beatrice Wanjiru -Banqok Thailand 4.5kg Cocaine
5. Grace Wanjiru – 2015 JKIA Enroute China 2kg
6. Hildah Njeri -2014 Dubai int. Airport
7. Esther Muthoni-2020 Singapore Airport 2.4kg heroin
8. Cynthia Wairimu-2017 Honkong int airport. 5kg of cocaine
