Margaret Nduta's ordeal sheds light on Kenyans jailed abroad for drug trafficking

Nduta narrowly avoided being executed by lethal injection on Monday evening after being convicted of drug smuggling.

She was arrested in 2023 after arriving at an airport in Vietnam's capital and being found in possession of two kilograms of cocaine. The People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City found her guilty and sentenced her to death on March 6, 2025.

The Kenyan government, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has described the case as "complex and difficult," despite calls from her family and other concerned Kenyans for diplomatic intervention.

Nduta is not the first Kenyan to be imprisoned abroad; numerous citizens have been apprehended at various entry points while attempting to smuggle drugs.

Reports indicate that smugglers, mostly women, attempt to sneak in the drugs mainly in China, Singapore, India and Malaysia.

Between 2006 and 2009, university students were reported for being highly lured to serve as drug couriers to foreign States.

In 2006, Olivia Singaniabe Munoko, a Kenyan student, was jailed for life in China after she was arrested for drug trafficking. 

Deborah Donde, daughter of the immediate former Gem MP Joe Donde, was arrested in Malaysia alongside her friend on suspicion of drug trafficking after they were found in a room in which four kilos of marijuana were seized.

They were later released after tests for marijuana consumption turned negative and Deborah noted that she was a victim of circumstance

Drug traffickers in Malaysia face either death or life imprisonment when convicted. 

Peter Amisi Obonyo is also serving a life sentence in China after he was arrested on May 28, 2008, by the Shenzen anti-smugglers bureau enroute to Guangzhou Province from Hong Kong while trying to smuggle into China 125 pellets of heroin weighing 1.5 kilos, which he had swallowed.

He was arraigned and sentenced to death a month later but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

In the same year, Leah Mweru Kimani was also apprehended in China with 1,323 grams of heroin found in her luggage. She was sentenced to death.

Chinese authorities also incarcerated Christine Nyabera Ongowo within the same period for drug trafficking and slapped her with a death sentence.

Judith Achieng Odoyo was arrested in 2012 at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Malaysia with 3,747.63 grams of syabu, a slang term for crystal methamphetamine.

She was found guilty in 2013 and was sentenced to death.

“Only one sentence is provided by law for this crime and that is the death sentence. Pursuant to Section 183 read together with Section 277 of the Criminal Procedure Code, I order that you, Judith Achieng Odoyo, be taken to a lawful place where you shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead,” Justice Dato’ Abdul Rahman Sebli ruled as quoted by Malaysian Daily Borneo Post online.

In May 2013, Floviance Owino was arrested at Guangzhou Baiyuan Airport for drug smuggling and sentenced to death by hanging in 2015. 

Diplomatic negotiations led to the suspension of her execution for two years, pending a review of her case.

Lawyer Okweh Achiando told The Standard "If her conduct is good, the sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment or she could have a fixed term."

Rose Achieng Ojala was sentenced to death in 2017 by a court in Malaysia after being found guilty of possessing methamphetamine that she was attempting to smuggle into the country.

She was charged with trafficking in the drug at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Nov 30, 2013.

Reports indicate that at the time of her arrest, she had swallowed 68 capsules and concealed three in her private organs. 

In June 2019, 36-year-old Mariam Mweke who had been living in India illegally, was arrested on allegations of running an international drugs trafficking ring and evading trial.

Mweke was suspected to have been operating an underground ring since 2016 following the expiry of her visa and was arrested at her hideout in Nalasopala area of Mumbai.

Her run-ins with the Indian authorities began in 2016 when she was arrested alongside two of her associates with over 7.5 kilos of heroin.

“After completing investigations, a charge sheet was filed against the three on November 1, last year and on January 7 this year she was granted bail,” said Pramod Kushwaha, a senior officer with the New Delhi police.

She however jumped bail and evaded the trial proceedings, prompting a search and placing of a bounty on her head.

A 35-year-old woman was also arrested in Hong Kong in 2023 for smuggling 1 kilogram of a narcotic substance believed to be cocaine into the Chinese city.

She was arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport as she arrived in the Chinese city from Nairobi via Addis Ababa.

Hong Kong police said that the suspected cocaine, which was concealed inside her body, was held in 67 pellets with an estimated street value of HK$900,000 (approx. Ksh.15.4 million).

However unidentified, police said the woman was presented for examination and allegedly excreted the suspected drugs. She was arrested immediately after.

In December 2024, a Kenyan male was arrested in India for trying to smuggle cocaine worth $1.44 million (Ksh.186 million).

Indian customs officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport said they arrested the suspect with the drugs concealed in his stomach.

He was apprehended on arrival in Delhi from Nairobi on an Air India flight.

During questioning, the passenger admitted to having ingested capsules containing narcotics.

“He voluntarily cooperated with the authorities and he was taken to New Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital for a medical procedure to extract the hidden items,” the officials said as quoted by Nation.

More incarceration cases of Kenyan drug traffickers remain unconfirmed but it is suspected that many could be serving sentences but remain undiscovered because of using fake documents or not registering with the embassies abroad.