Kenyan court sentences Seychellois man to 10 years in prison for trafficking heroin
General |Author: Betymie Bonnelame | November 2, 2018, Friday @ 14:03| 4683 views
The logo of the Anti-Narcotics Bureau. (Anti-Narcotics Bureau)
(Seychelles News Agency) - A Seychellois man was sentenced this week to 10 years imprisonment by a court in Kenya, the Seychelles’ Anti-Narcotics Bureau said Friday.
Clement Serge Bristol, 51, originally from Mont Plaisir in the southern district of Anse Royale, was also fined $49,000 for trafficking 10 kgs of heroin, the bureau said.
The Seychellois national was sentenced together with a Kenyan national, Ahmed Said Bakari, who was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $79,000. Three other Kenyan suspects arrested in the case were acquitted.
According to the Kenyan newspaper ‘Daily Nation’, “The group allegedly committed the offences on April 9, 2015, at Kilifi Boat Yard in Mnarani area. The boat was destroyed at the Delta 16 in the deep sea of the Indian Ocean on August 14, 2015, following orders from President Uhuru Kenyatta. The vessel was seized by the Kenya Navy patrol vessel at the boatyard after it was towed to Mombasa port.”
“The Seychellois and Kenyan were convicted as the magistrate ruled that evidence tabled in court showed they were aware of the presence of heroin in the yacht since they were its captain and caretaker,” the paper reported.
The sentencing of Bristol comes a month after a 39-year-old Seychellois was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Dubai for mixing heroin with detergent powder in an attempt to send it to a friend back in the island nation.
Following the sentencing in Dubai, the Seychelles’ Department of Foreign Affairs had reminded Seychellois citizen to respect the law of the land wherever they may be and said that illegal activities “only serve to tarnish the good image of our country and law abiding citizens in Seychelles living and/or travelling overseas.”
The Department said, “it will only provide consular assistance in accordance with its means, to ensure that Seychellois are properly and fairly represented in overseas jurisdiction.”
Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, has a 'zero tolerance' policy for possession and use of illegal drugs.