Nairobi News

A Kenyan woman is currently being held in China after she was arrested smuggling cocaine pills worth Sh15.3 million.

The 35-year-old woman, whose identity is yet to be made public, was on Sunday, April 9, 2023, arrested while smuggling 67 cocaine pills weighing 1 kilogram inside her body.

Hong Kong authorities were alarmed by unclear travel documents that the lady produced at the airport when she jetted from Ethiopia.

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Then, the airport officials decided to grill her further as they questioned why she was in China.

This is after it emerged that she had been booked into a hotel that does not even exist, raising eyebrows as to where she planned to visit in China.

In addition, the time indicated in the documents she would be spending at the hotel did not match the details of her stay in China.

It was then that she was handed over to the customs’ drug investigation group, which made a decision to take her to the hospital for tests.

“She was then taken to a hospital under state security and an ejection process to remove the drugs from her body was carried out,” China Media reported on Sunday.

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Then doctors found out that she might be having more drugs inside her body, and she was ordered to stay.

China is known for its strict rules and regulations, especially when it comes to matters of drugs.

Three years ago, Mr Simon Wambua Mbuvi, 44, was jailed for life after he was found possessing drugs. He joined a list of 30 other Kenyans currently languishing in Chinese jails.

The Chinese Intermediate People’s Court of Guangzhou Municipality in Guangdong Province found him guilty of trafficking drugs concealed inside his stomach into Chinese territory.

Mr Mbuvi had about 947 grams of cocaine in his stomach, and he was given a life sentence.

Under Chinese criminal law, he would face the death penalty if the amount was a kilo or more.

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