44-year-old Kenyan Man Sent to Prison for Life in China over Drug Smuggling

A Chinese court has sentenced a Kenyan man to life imprisonment after he was convicted of drug trafficking charges.

44-year-old Simon Wambua Mbuvi, formerly a farm laborer, was found guilty of trafficking drugs into Chinese territory by Chinese Intermediate People’s Court of Guangzhou Municipality, in Guangdong Province.

Wambua had been charged with smuggling approximately 947 grams of cocaine in his stomach. He was arrested with the narcotics after landing in Guangzhou on an Ethiopian flight.

Daily Nation reported that Wambua was not only a first-time traveler to China but also new in the drug trafficking business.

His trip to the populous Asian nation was allegedly organized by a network of drug kingpins.

Wambua was reportedly approached by a woman identified as Breda three months earlier, who offered him Sh211,150 to undertake an assignment for her.

Breda, also known as Fridah, purchased a round ticket for him, paid the visa fees and linked Wambua to other people in China but did not disclose to him that he was going to do an illegal drug delivery assignment. 

On November 24th last year, he left for China through Addis Ababa for a connecting flight and was linked to two men. His hosts fed him, asked him to rest and later convinced him to swallow 79 capsules using water and soda.

He boarded a flight to China and was instructed not to feed on anything aboard the 12-hour flight.

Upon landing in China, an X-ray scanner at the airport illuminated “suspected granular items." He was handed over to the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport Customs Anti-Smuggling Sub-bureau in Guangdong.

In two days, he discharged all the 79 capsules weighing 947.03 grams, leading to his arrest and arraignment in court for drug trafficking.

Wambua will languish in jail in the Asian country since China and Kenya have no bilateral arrangement for exchange of prisoners. He will join 30 other Kenyans who are already serving jail terms in China for various crimes.

Wambua was given 10 days to appeal the ruling.