Man jailed for 1 140kg cocaine
2006-06-28 13:12
Nairobi - A Kenyan man was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in one of Africa's largest cocaine seizures - a case that made headlines after the 1 140kg haul exploded in an incinerator following attempts by authorities to destroy it.
David Mugo Kiragu was also fined $270 000. The five other people charged in the case, including an Italian couple, were acquitted.
Authorities confiscated the cocaine in December 2004 in Nairobi and the coastal resort town of Malindi. Investigators suspected that the drugs originated in Latin America.
Kenya was seeking the extradition from the Netherlands of a man it believed was the prime suspect. The suspect was serving a five-year sentence in a Dutch prison.
In March, one of the two incinerators being used to destroy the drugs exploded at a medical research facility in Nairobi. Nobody was injured.
According to reports, traffickers were increasingly using Africa, both east and west, to smuggle cocaine from Latin America into Europe.
- AP