BY MWANAHABARI REPORTER
A husband and his wife of many years are set to spend the remainder of their lives in prison.
This is the sad story of Meru drug peddler James Muthiora, alias, Karinta and his wife Fridah Karimi who were on Wednesday, September 29, sentenced to life imprisonment.
Karinta, 59, and his wife Karimi, 50, were condemned to life in prison alongside four other individuals; Timothy Kinoti Kariaci, Joseph Ekeno Ekeno and Jacob Githae Mukunyu for drug trafficking.
They were said to have been trafficking 103 kilos of bhang all worth Ksh3,090,000 offence committed on November 1, 2018.
The court found the suspects guilty, and thus liable for a conviction.
The court ruled: “In the first count, the accused person is sentenced to pay a fine of Sh4.6 million or serve five years in prison for trafficking in a narcotic drugs contrary Section 4 and Psychotropic Substances Control Act.
“In addition to the third count, the accused person was sentenced to life imprisonment for being in possession of utensils used in connection with the preparation of narcotic drugs contrary to Section 5 and Psychotropic Substances Control Act meaning the fine runs concurrently with the life sentence,” the court ruled.
The other three suspects namely Kariaci, Ekeno and Mukunyu were released for lack of enough evidence.
The three were found in Karinta’s house where people were trafficking bhang, but there could not be linked to the offence.
Karinta was also connected to another 981kg consignment of bhang valued at Ksh29.43 million.