Kenyan Margaret Nduta who had been sentenced to the death in Vietnam will now serve a life sentence. This is after the Supreme Court in Vietnam commuted her sentence to life.
Nduta had been sentenced to death on March 6, 2025 by the People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She was found guilty of trafficking two kilograms of cocaine through Vietnam.
Nduta, who hails from Murang’a County was arrested on July 2023. She had been paid Sh167,000 to smuggle the drugs.
She appealed against the death penalty after petitions from the Kenyan government to have her sentence commuted to jail time.
Another Kenyan woman nabbed at India airport with cocaine pellets in stomach
“The Kenyan government has been working round the clock on this issue, and even with this development, we are still exploring diplomatic avenues to secure her release,” Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said.
Despite the publicity of the severe punishment meted on Nduta for drug trafficking, Kenya has been experiencing a rising number of women who are risking death and life in the trade of drugs.
At least once per month over since Nduta was first sentenced in March, a Kenyan woman has been getting arrested for trafficking drugs at international airports.
Most of these arrests have been recorded in India’s Mumbai International Airport.
For instance, in July 2025, a Kenyan woman who was identified as Florence Indangasi was arrested at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai after arriving on a flight from Nairobi, Kenya.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) stopped the 43-year old for interrogation after what was termed as an intelligence tip off. However, nothing was found in her luggage and clothes after a search was conducted.
According to the DRI officials, Indangasi admitted that even though nothing had been found in her bags and clothes, she had ingested cocaine pellets. The officials asked for a court approval from the Esplanade court and she was admitted at the JJ Hospital in Mumbai for examination.
A total of six pellets containing cocaine were then recovered from her stomach. Laboratory tests and measurements showed that she had carried pellets containing 665.5 grams of cocaine.
