3 jailed for life over Sh4.8m drugs

Moshi. The High Court yesterday sentenced three people to life imprisonment after it found them guilty of trafficking khat and marijuana worth Sh4.8 million.

The Judge in charge of the High Court (Moshi Zone), Aishiel Sumari, said 11 witnesses testified and it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offences.

In the first case, Kennedy Shayo, 52, and his accomplice Athuman Mussa,32, were sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking 83 kilos of khat.

In the second case a resident of Gongo la Mboto in Dar es Salaam, Farida Abdul Ismail, will serve the life sentence for attempting to transport 7.7 grammes of marijuana to Turkey.

Shayo and Mussa were arrested on April 3, 2013 at Majengo Ngangamfumuni in Moshi Town transporting 83 kilos of khat worth Sh4.1 million from Himo to Moshi using a car.

According to a witness, the police initially flagged down the car at Kiborloni, but the accused ignored the order, prompting the police to chase them up to Ngangamfumuni where they were intercepted.

Upon searching the car, police discovered that Athuman was sleeping on six packets of khat on the back seat. The State was represented by attorneys Hassan Nkya, Omary Kibwana and Lucy Kyussa, while advocated Abdallh Chavula defended the accused.

Yesterday, Justice Sumari also ordered the confiscation of the car owned by Shayo that was used to transport the contraband. Regarding the case against Farida, Justice Sumari said the court was satisfied with the evidence adduced by 10 prosecution witnesses that the accused was actually transporting 770 packets of marijuana on September 22, 2013.

The 7.7 kilos of marijuana had a street valued of Sh770,000.

Farida was arrested at Kilimanjaro International Airport.