Scola Imbiti jailed for 15 years for drug trafficking in Nairobi
Following the hearing at the JKIA courts, Senior Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku found Scola Namunyu Imbiti, 50, guilty of trafficking in cocaine.
A Nairobi court has sentenced a woman, a single mother of three children, to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Scola Namunyu Imbiti was on January 12 also ordered to pay a Sh1 million fine, failure to which she would serve an additional year in prison.
The two sentences will run concurrently.
Following the hearing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Law Courts, Senior Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku found the 50-year-old woman guilty of trafficking cocaine.
The magistrate said the prosecution was able to prove that Scola dispatched an envelope with cocaine for delivery to Malindi in 2019.
She was found guilty after the prosecution called a total of eight witnesses.
According to the prosecution, on June 12, 2019, at a parcel booking office along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, Scola was found trafficking 20 grammes of cocaine with a market value of Sh80,120.
She was arrested near Bellevue after she handed over a drug parcel containing 20.3 grammes of cocaine at a South C Estate bus stop.
It was not the first time that the accused, identified in court filings as a freelance designer, was finding herself on the wrong side of the law.
On November 15, 2011, Scola and Bulgarian national Yulian Petrov Stankov were arrested at Mlolongo Way Bridge.
They were travelling to Nairobi from Mombasa where they were allegedly involved in cloning Visa credit cards with two other Bulgarians who were also arrested at a residence in Kilifi County.
Milko Kostadinov and Ivan Petkov were arrested at the Kilifi residence where police recovered Sh2 million, 400 US dollars, 32 cloned ATM cards, an ATM accessory (slot) and two laptops.
The two Bulgarians were eventually released on bail on October 11, 2011, after being charged with fraud and possession of counterfeit currency.
They later fled the country under unclear circumstances.
On January 26, 2010, Scola was arrested at JKIA Cargo Centre with 21kilos of heroin from Iran concealed in leather jackets.
The shipment had been sent to a consignee – Hilda Wangare Mwangi – the alias she was using at the time.
She also used a non-existent address – 9263 Thika – to hide her identity.
It was later discovered that the identity card did not exist, nor did the address.
However, the case, which was brought before Milimani Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei, was dismissed.
On February 11, 2011, Scola was arrested again with Pamela Akinyi and Beatrice Odhiambo at Panera Guest House with 3.015 kilos of cocaine. A further 0.645 kilogrammes of heroin was found in her house.
While out on bond, Scola was suspected of continuing with illegal deals and corruptly setting up a protection ring made up of judicial and law enforcement officials. She won the case and walked free on March 2, 2012.
The magistrate based her decision on Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that "the court is not sure whether the person has committed the offence". The magistrate ruled that there was "insufficient consistency" in the evidence presented before the court.
The verdict was read on her behalf by a new magistrate, and the prosecution was dissatisfied with the verdict.
On November 8, 2012, Scola was arrested with 758.9 grammes of heroin, which she had obtained from deported Nigerian trafficker Anthony Chinedu, who was once married to Kenyan trafficker Joyce Akinyi Ochieng aka Joyce Deep West.
Joyce is currently at Lang’ata Women's Prison.
The conclusion of Scola's drug trafficking case at the JKIA law courts has been hailed as a major victory against drug traffickers in Kenya who continue to profit from the vice at the expense of youth whose lives have been ruined.
