Three Kenya Airways (KQ) employees have been sentenced to 25 years in prison each for trafficking heroin valued at more than Ksh 60 million.
In a statement on Saturday, November 22, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said the three were handed the sentences by the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Court.
The three accused include Lennox Chengek Chestit, Kenneth Sinzore Isundu, and Alfric Odhiambo Otieno.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has secured yet another major victory in the fight against narcotics after three Kenya Airways employees were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for trafficking heroin valued at more than KSh 60 million.
“The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Court handed the sentences to Lennox Chengek Chestit, a cabin crew member; Kenneth Sinzore Isundu, a ground staffer; and Alfric Odhiambo Otieno, also a cabin crew member,” read the statement in part.
In addition to the custodial sentences, each convict was ordered to pay substantial fines ranging between Ksh88 million and Ksh90 million.
Should they fail to pay the fines, they will serve an additional one-year sentence, to run concurrently with their main sentences.
The convictions stem from two counts of trafficking in narcotic drugs. In the first count, Chestit and Isundu were found guilty of trafficking 9,845.70 grams of heroin valued at KSh 29,537,100.
In the second count, Otieno and Isundu were convicted of trafficking 20 kilograms of heroin worth KSh 60 million.
Senior Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku ordered that Isundu’s sentences run concurrently. She dismissed the convicts’ request for non-custodial sentences, citing the law’s strict provisions.
“All three asked the court for a non-custodial sentence, but the court is bound by the Community Service Orders Act. Drug trafficking offences do not fit the parameters for non-custodial sentencing,” she ruled.
The court further noted that the convicts showed disregard for the severe reputational damage their actions could inflict on Kenya Airways and the Kenya Airports Authority.
“To see employees of Kenya Airways themselves involved in drug trafficking is more damaging than any of them possibly imagined,” the magistrate observed.
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