Kenyan drug courier awaits legal aid from consulate

THE court yesterday deferred the arraignment of the Kenyan national who was arrested on illegal drug possession charges at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) last Thursday.

The 24-year-old Kenyan  Asha Atieno Ogutu appeared before Judge Toribio Quiwag of the Regional Trial Court Branch 27 in Lapu-Lapu City but the proceedings didn’t last long.

The judge agreed to provide the woman  with a lawyer to  represent her during the arraignment only.

But Ogutu said she preferred to be assisted by a lawyer to be sent by the Kenyan embassy.

The arraignment was moved to tomorrow at her request.

“We have to move your case faster,” the judge reminded Ogutu, who is facing a non-bailable offense for transporting three kilos of shabu found in her suitcase when she arrived  at the international airport last Sept. 29.

Ogutu was escorted by jail guards of the Lapu-Lapu City Jail where she is detained.  She declined to issue a statement to the media.

A jail nurse who requested anonymity said no one has  visited Ogutu since she was detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail last Monday.

“She already feels at home. She kept on crying before but now she smiles at times,” the jail nurse said.

She said Jail Warden Jennifer Joyce Abar already informed the Kenyan Consulate in Manila about Ogutu’s detention.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas arrested Ogutu when she arrived at the airport last Thursday.

They were alerted by the NBI-7 central office in Manila, which was monitoring the illegal drug trade.

Ogutu is facing charges of violating section 5 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

If Ogutu is found guilty for transporting illegal drugs, she faces life imprisonment and a fine of  P500,000 to P10 million.

NBI agents pegged the street value of the shabu at  P18 million and said Ogutu was probably a courier of a syndicate.

Oguto, a single mom with two kids, said she didn’t want her children to  know about her arrest.

In an earlier interview, she denied the allegations against her and said she  was a trader of fruits and clothes in Kenya.

She said a Kenyan woman whom she identified as Rey recruited her for a clothing business. Ogutu said Rey, whom she knew for just a month, asked her to go to Benin, a country in West Africa.

On arriving in Benin, Ogutu said Rey asked her to go to Cebu for a vacation.

Ogutu said she was supposed to stay for a week at the EGI Hotel in Lapu-Lapu City for an all-expenses paid holiday.

Her backpack was replaced by  suitcase where the shabu was concealed in a false bottom.  Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol