A Marsabit Court on Friday ordered a former presidential candidate to be remanded for seven days pending bail consideration after he denied a charge of trafficking in narcotic drugs.
The Diligence Development Alliance (DDA) Party leader, Jaffer Isaak Sora denied before Senior Resident Magistrate, Tom Wafula of trafficking in bhang contrary to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Control Act.
The accused allegedly committed the offence on June 19, this year at Marsabit Central Sub-county in Marsabit County jointly with others not before court whereby he was found trafficking 445 kilograms of bhang with a street value of Sh.11,125,000.
The prosecution objected to the accused being released on bail and asked the court to remand him until June 26, this year pending both pretrial and pre-bail reports and preparation of witness statements.
The Principal Prosecution Officer, Paul Ochieng told the court that he was under instructions to oppose bond or bail since the accused has dual citizenship of Kenya and Europe and such a potential flight threat.
He told the court that investigations indicate that the accused was linked to a syndicate which was highly placed and
could therefore interfere with investigations and witnesses.
The accused admitted being a highly influential personality in the society but denied ever having intimidated any police officer.
He informed the court of being in possession of a Kenyan passport which he used for entering and exiting the country.
“It is not true that I have ever intimidated any police officer on account of being a senior personality,” he told the
court, adding, “It is also true that I have a Kenyan passport which I use both to enter and exit the country.”
The suspect was a presidential candidate in 2017 national polls and is reported to be aspiring to contest in 2022 with police records indicating that he was indeed a frequent user of the Isiolo-Moyale highway.
The arrest come barely a week after police nabbed suspects in Sololo area on July 16, 2019 with 315 kg of bhang while another suspect was on June 18,2019 arrested with three kilograms of bhang that was stuffed in a modified gas cylinder at the Merille roadblock.
The Marsabit County Police Commander (CPC), Steve Oloo has lauded the efforts by diligent police officers who have been working closely with members of the public leading to arrest of suspected criminals.
By Sebastian Miriti
