Another Kenyan woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for drug trafficking, leaving Kenyans wondering what lies ahead for 37-year-old Margaret Nduta.
After the prosecution established a drug trafficking case against her, a Busia law court sentenced the 55-year-old lady to 50 years in prison for trafficking 3.9 kg of heroin.
In violation of section 4(a)(ii) of the Narcotic narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act No.4 of 2022, the woman was convicted of trafficking in narcotic narcotics.
In order to avoid going to jail, the court ordered her to pay a Ksh50 million fine. This follows her arrest for possessing 3.9 kilogram of heroin, valued at Ksh 11.8 million on the black market, at Busia One Border Point on March 10, 2023.
At the time of the sentencing, Kenya is in diplomatic negotiations with the Vietnamese government to urge the expatriation of its citizen Margaret Nduta, who faces execution after being found guilty of importing more than two kg of drugs.
This came after she was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, one of the largest transportation hubs in the Asian country.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court condemned Nduta to death on Thursday, March 6, further solidifying the country’s tough approach to drug-related offenses.
In a last-ditch attempt to spare Nduta from the impending execution, a group of officials from Kenya’s embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, reportedly traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei disclosed that Kenya’s ambassadors from Thailand had visited Vietnam to discuss the 37-year-old’s clemency.
In order to facilitate additional communication between Kenya and the Vietnamese government, Sing’Oei stated that Kenya’s delegates in Thailand will also work to postpone Nduta’s execution.
Two suspects, a Kenyan and a foreigner from Burundi, were apprehended by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) after they were discovered cultivating marijuana on a half-acre plot of land in Kiambu’s Kidifamaco Estate in Kikuyu.
