Man pleads not guilty on charges of growing opium poppy
Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE/NATION
Mr David Kamau who was arrested after opium poppy plant was discovered at his farm in Njambini, Kinangop, on July 26, 2011.
A suspect who last week pleaded guilty to growing opium poppy in his farm on Tuesday changed his mind and denied the offence.
David Kamau Kariuki pleaded guilty to growing 600 stems of opium poppy in Njabini, Kinangop and was remanded at Muthaiga Police Station to await judgment.
However, when the charges were read to him afresh, he said he did not understand the offence the first time and pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, he would have risked being jailed for 20 years or fined Sh250,000.
He was released on a cash bail of Sh200,000, with the case scheduled for hearing on September 26.
The opium poppy farm was discovered on Monday last week by police officers from the anti-narcotics unit and arrested the farm owner, David Kamau Kariuki.
The plant produces one of the ingredients used to make heroin.
Its pod is usually harvested to extract a milky sap which yields morphine, a key ingredient in manufacturing heroin which in its refined form fetches about Sh1 million a kilogramme on the black market.
Uprooted samples of the plant were taken to the Government Chemist to conduct tests whose results will be availed when the case comes up for hearing in September.
