Three charged over Sh4m drug trafficking

By Judy Ogutu and Cyrus Ombati

Three people have been charged with attempting to traffick drugs worth Sh4 million to Tokyo, Japan.

Mr Jeffrey Nashon Otieno, Mr Tom Ochieng Oula and Mr Vincent Omollo were arraigned before Principal Magistrate Paul Biwott.

It is alleged that on August 12 at Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Nairobi, the three trafficked by conveying psychotropic substance namely Methamphetamine with a street value of Sh4 million. They denied the charges and were each granted bail of Sh200,000. The case will be heard on September 17.

The suspects include the Foreign Affairs ministry chief protocol officer’s driver and a former protocol officer, now serving at the Ministry of Justice.

A third suspect is a tour guide van driver who delivered two kilogrammes of the drugs to the ministry headquarters to be dispatched as a diplomatic parcel.

The magistrate heard that the three were arrested at the ministry’s offices at old Treasury Building.

Remand suspects

The prosecutor Robert Kyaa had requested the magistrate to remand the three at the Central Police Station to allow the completion of investigations. Police, he added, intended to arrest additional suspects and recover more drugs.

In response, the accused opposed the application to have them remanded in custody, saying they had fully co-operated with police during investigations.

The court rejected the bail application, saying the prosecution had not convinced him on the need to remand the accused.

He said in the ruling that they were still innocent and the police had time to carry out inquiries before arraigning them in court.

 Packaged the drugs

According to Nairobi Area Head of CID Nicholas Kamwende, the suspects had packaged the drugs as a diplomatic bag to avoid scrutiny and suspicion at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Tokyo.

Kamwende added they are trying to establish if this has been routine since the drugs they were found with had been banned.

“Apparently, diplomatic luggage attracts less attention, that is why they were using the means to smuggle the narcotics,” said Kamwende.