Claims drug mule accused from EL

Woman awaits trial in Kenya over Nairobi airport cocaine bust

AN EAST London woman has been jailed in Kenya for the alleged possession of 4.5kg of cocaine valued at R1.7-million.

The woman, 45, whose identity is known to the Dispatch but unconfirmed, is believed to be from Gonubie. She was travelling from Brazil on a Kenyan flight to Benin when she was arrested on Saturday at Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi.

A caller from the suburb tipped off the Dispatch that she was from Gonubie. Attempts to confirm this and that she worked at a guesthouse drew the response: “No comment”. Later, the caller told the Dispatch: “Don’t call again.”

The jailed woman’s Facebook page says she lives in East London.

According to Kenyan news reports, the plane had stopped over and she was intercepted at a screening point. The drugs were found in her sandals and cosmetics.

Department of International Relations and Co-operation spokesman Nelson Kgwete said the department was aware of the case, but was unable to divulge more information. “At this moment, at the woman’s request, we cannot share any information with the media.

“We can only confirm that she has been visited by officials and that she is being provided with consular support,” said Kgwete.

According to media reports, she appeared in a Nairobi court on Monday, but the case was postponed. Kgwete said she was due to appear again next week.

The woman is the third person from the Eastern Cape to be accused of drug-trafficking in a foreign country and the third South African arrested this year alone.

Kenyan newspapers said on Monday that the top sentence for drug smuggling was life imprisonment.

Earlier this year, Mthatha-born Tobeka Theodore Ncombo, 48, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in Zimbabwe. She was travelling from Columbia, South America, on an Ethiopian flight to Zimbabwe when she was arrested last December.

In 2011 a Grahamstown woman, Nolubabalo Nobanda, was arrested in Thailand.

She was found with drugs in her fake dreadlocks and sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Bangkok court.

In this week’s case the woman was arrested at the airport by a joint task-force consisting of the Kenyan anti-narcotics unit and foreign police, including SAPS officers, after a tip-off.

The Daily Dispatch tried to get comment from the woman’s family but was unsuccessful.

Patricia Gerber, director of Locked Up In a Foreign Country, said: “This is very sad, a human tragedy because these so-called smugglers are victims of human trafficking themselves.

“They are manipulated, lied to and threatened. She is just one of many cases where these poor women are used as decoys and the real criminals just walk.” —