A court in Vietnam has sentenced a 37-year-old Kenyan woman to death after convicting her of smuggling more than two kilograms of cocaine through Ho Chi Minh City’s airport.
The People’s Court delivered the verdict on Thursday, March 6, sentencing Macharia Margaret Nduta for drug trafficking.
Authorities arrested Nduta in July 2023 while she was in transit to Laos.
During investigations, she claimed that a Kenyan man, identified only as John, had hired her to deliver the suitcase she was carrying to another woman. As part of the arrangement, she was also expected to return with other goods.
According to the indictment, John paid Nduta $1,300 (Ksh167,000) and covered her airfare.
She told the court that she successfully passed through security checks at three major airports—Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Bole International Airport in Ethiopia, and Hamad International Airport in Qatar—before being caught in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnamese authorities arrested her after discovering that her suitcase had a false bottom, where the cocaine was hidden.
Police stated that upon removing the top and bottom linings of her luggage, they found over two kilograms of the illegal substance.
During her court appearance, Nduta insisted that she was unaware her suitcase contained drugs.
However, prosecutors dismissed her defense, arguing that she was attempting to cover up her crime and must take full responsibility for the amount of drugs she transported.
Vietnam has some of the strictest drug laws in the world. Anyone found guilty of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or over 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine faces the death penalty.
