Kenyan Woman Joyce Njeri Faces Drug Trafficking Charges in Singapore

A Kenyan woman has been charged with drug trafficking in Singapore after authorities allegedly found several kilograms of cocaine in her possession at Changi Airport.

Joyce Njeri Mburu, 31, was arrested on 29 July alongside four other Kenyan women and one Hong Kong national while in transit at Terminal 4. According to Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), the group was suspected of exchanging suitcases containing cocaine hidden inside stuffed toys. 

Investigators later recovered a total of 26.9 kilogrammes of cocaine in more than 1,300 pellets, along with 10 grammes of cannabis found in the luggage of two suspects. Ms Mburu is accused of importing between 275 and 380 pellets, amounting to approximately 5.9 to 7.9 kilogrammes of cocaine. 

Under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, trafficking more than 30 grammes of cocaine carries the mandatory death penalty, placing her within the threshold for capital charges. The news has come as a shock to Ms Mburu’s family in Kenya. Speaking from Maili Kumi in Bahati sub-County, her mother, Rahab Wangui, said the family had been unaware of her travel plans and only learned of her arrest weeks later through a phone call Ms Mburu made to her younger sister from detention.

“She never disclosed to anyone that she was leaving the country,” Ms Wangui said. “She could be celebrating her birthday today, but here we are still processing and in the dark on how she landed in Singapore and where she got the drugs she is accused of trafficking.”

Ms Mburu, a single mother of two, had been living in Nakuru Town and had not completed her secondary education. Her family last spoke to her in July and grew concerned when she stopped communicating. They initially assumed she was busy with work until they received confirmation of her arrest.

In a brief call made in September, Ms Mburu asked to speak to her children and requested prayers. She informed her family that she was being held on remand and had received a visit from the Kenyan Embassy. The case is scheduled for a court mention on 16 December.