Probe drugs syndicate

The arrest overseas of yet another Kenyan woman over drug trafficking is a good indication that the vice may be on the increase. The country has in the recent past been fixated with the plight of a woman who risks execution in Vietnam after having been found with a cocaine consignment.

In the latest incident, the suspect was arrested while allegedly trying to smuggle into India cocaine valued at Sh270 million. She was seized by customs officials at an airport in Mumbai. And just like her compatriot in prison in Vietnam, she claimed that she had been given the package in Nairobi by someone else to deliver to India.

However, she admitted that she was aware of what she was carrying and had been promised Sh100,000.

This is proof of a lucrative illegal business that some desperate Kenyans find rather hard to resist though they are aware of the dire consequences, which include getting imprisoned or even executed. Vietnam and China strictly carry out the grim sentence on conviction.

It is quite possible that these Kenyans are being lured by international syndicates and sent on the deadly drug trafficking missions. The Indian authorities are investigating their local accomplices. In India, the penalties range from six months in prison or a fine if found with a kilo of the stuff to more than 20 years for larger amounts.

She is luckier than her compatriot, who was sentenced to death in Vietnam for drug trafficking. She had smuggled 2.3 kilogrammes of cocaine. The narcotic drugs were found concealed in her luggage at an airport.

These two cases should be a wake-up call to the Kenyan authorities to step up surveillance, monitoring at airports and thorough investigations to find out the local masterminds of the international syndicates luring Kenyan women to act as drug mules.