Police vow to rescue ‘traffickers’
Grace Maina displays a photograph of her sister Anne Wambui Maina (centre) who is serving a jail term in Hong Kong in drug connection case during an interview with Daily Nation on 26th July 2012 in Huruma, Nairobi. Photo/DENNIS OKEYO
What you need to know:
- The report mentioned Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Oman, Saudi Arabia and South Africa as trafficking destinations.
Police detectives have resolved to save East Africans arrested for drug trafficking overseas as a Kenyan woman was sentenced to death in Malaysia last week.
Judith Achieng Odoyo, 31, was found guilty of trafficking 3,747.63 grams of syabu, a narcotic drug.
She was arrested in September last year at Kota Kinabalu International Airport with drugs concealed in two suitcases.
Meeting in Nairobi, CID chiefs from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, said youth from the region were trafficked to foreign countries during which they were used to carry drugs without their knowledge.
“East African Community partner States need to sign bilateral agreements with destination countries to save trafficked youths being used to transport drugs, who find themselves arrested and sentenced to death,” said a joint report seen by the Nation.
The report mentioned Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Oman, Saudi Arabia and South Africa as trafficking destinations.
The police resolved to enhance capacity in detecting and investigating human trafficking.”
As for Odoyo, the Borneo Post online reported that: “Justice Dato’ Abdul Rahman Sebli pronounced the sentence after ruling that she had failed to raise any reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case.”
It further reported that: “When met by reporters outside the court, Odoyo said she was depressed and felt stressed that her friends had caused her to be put to death.”
The clothes trader claimed her friends- Agnes and Ray did not disclose to her that she was travelling to Malaysia.
They had told her that Kota Kinabalu was a stopover between Dubai and Malaysia where they would sell what she was carrying.
The CID chiefs said: “Most people trafficked leave their countries by road and board international flights from other countries and fly to such destination countries.”
The meeting was chaired by Kenyan head of anti-narcotics unit Hamisi Massa and attended by Dismas Ntakibirora (Burundi), Emmanuel Ngondo (Rwanda), Jamal Rwambow (Tanzania) and Fabian Amadia (Uganda).
