Man sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking bhang worth Sh23,250

Emmanuel Chacha breaks down after court sentences him to life imprisonment over the trafficking of bhang. (Kelvin Karani, Standard)

A man was Wednesday sentenced to life by a Mombasa court for an offense of trafficking 155 rolls of bhang from Migori to Mtongwe in Mombasa County.

While delivering his judgment Senior Resident Magistrate Edgar Kagoni said Emmanuel Chacha will serve as an example to any person with the intentions of trafficking bhang especially to Mombasa County which is adversely affected by issues of drugs.

“People like you should be kept away from the public, you cannot transfer that large amount of drugs to a city where youths are affected by drug abuse and therefore rendering them unproductive thus engaging in petty crimes,” said Kagoni.

He was however, granted 14 days to file his appeal.

Chacha had pleaded guilty to a trafficking offense saying that he had been informed that there is a good market for the drug once he is in Mombasa.

He agreed that on May 14, around the ferry area, Likoni Sub County in Mombasa County was found trafficking in 155 big rolls of cannabis of a street value of Sh23, 250.

State prosecutor Lilian Fundi informed the court that Chacha was arrested at the Likoni ferry as he was trying to cross with two big bags containing the rolls of bhang.

”While being scanned at the x-ray luggage scanning, the officers in charge noticed the unusual luggage which they suspected to be bhang and after confirming it to be cannabis, Chacha was handed to the police,” said Fundi.

She added that investigations were done and thereafter, and the green substance was identified to be bhang by an officer from the government chemist.

The 155 rolls of bang weighing 7.7 Kgs were produced in court as exhibits.

In mitigation, Chacha pleaded with the court to be lenient to him and set him free since that was his first consignment and promised never to engage in drug trafficking again.

“I would like the court to consider that I am an orphan and pardon me, it’s just that someone lied to me that this business is lucrative here in Mombasa,” Chacha told the court.

As he was crying, he told the court that he will not involve himself in such issues again saying that he is the one taking care of his siblings.