MATHE WA NGARA IN COURT

Mathe wa Ngara expected in court over drug trafficking, possession

She was arrested on Monday evening after being trailed for long.

In Summary
  • Her four accomplices including two teenage sons and a 54-year-old woman will Tuesday know if they will be released or not.
  • An anti-narcotics court at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport said it will make a ruling on an application by the prosecution to continue holding the suspects pending further probe.
Nancy Indoveria Kigunzu alias Mathe Wa Ngara at DCI headquarters after being arrested on Monday evening.
Nancy Indoveria Kigunzu alias Mathe Wa Ngara at DCI headquarters after being arrested on Monday evening.

A businesswoman linked to drug trafficking and possession is expected in court Tuesday.

Nancy Indoveria Kigunzu was Monday arrested in a police operation in Nairobi on Tuesday.

The arrest came hours after the suspect moved to court to stop her imminent arrest.

Her four accomplices including two teenage sons and a 54-year-old woman will Tuesday know if they will be released or not.

This is after an anti-narcotics court at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport said it will make a ruling on an application by the prosecution to continue holding the suspects pending further probe.

The cops want to establish the true age of the juveniles and if they have used drugs.

Nancy who is popularly known as "Mathe Wa Ngara" over her alleged drug deals said investigative agencies have launched a major hunt to unfairly arrest and charge her on trumped-up charges.

She was arrested by detectives who were trailing her for hours. She was driven to the DCI headquarters for grilling ahead of the planned arraignment on Tuesday.

Detectives said she had been hiding since last Tuesday when police raided her den in Ngara.

Nancy however said in court she is being used as a 'scapegoat'.

She said she is a law-abiding citizen and she does not understand why the police are after her.

"I have never committed any crime in Kenya nor have I been involved in any criminal activity in Kenya neither personally nor jointly with others and I therefore do not understand why the police are looking to arrest me," she said in her court papers.

Through Advocate Shanice Maingi, Mathe wa Ngara asked the court to issue orders stopping her arrest and charging before the court without the agencies conducting a probe and giving her an opportunity to be heard.

Also sought is an order for anticipatory bail.

She has further accused the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Inspector General of Police of using their offices to illegally arrest and detain her two sons for five days without any reason.

The two are minors aged 16 and 17 respectively. She said she believes the purpose of her sons' arrest is aimed at threatening her and subsequently arresting her without following due process.

According to the court papers, Nancy says she became aware of the arrests made in Ngara through the media.

"A few days later it was reported in the media that one of those arrests was of a wrong person, code-named 'Mather wa Ngara',” she says.

Her sons were among those arrested and she says they are still being held at Pangani police station.

They and two others were expected in court on Monday, August 21.

'Kwa Mathe wa Ngara' is a known place, and is searchable online, unlike hundreds of other spots called 'Kwa Mathe', especially in informal settlements, the Ngara 'Mathe' appears to have more power, controls a larger swathe of the population, have more widespread influence.

Five years ago, K24 visited the sprawling 'Kwa Mathe' slums, filming men busy rolling marijuana blunts and revealing that, even little school-going boys were her clients.

A team of detectives from the Transitional Organised Crimes Unit backed by those from the Anti-Narcotics Unit and local ones had raided the den owned and run by Nancy but they did not find her.

Instead, they arrested her mules including three teenagers.

Those arrested included 54-year-old Tersia Wanjiru who was said to be the head of the store where the narcotics were kept.

And after police went public about the arrests and recoveries, those who know Nancy swamped social media saying the real “Mathe” had not been arrested.

The suspects were found with 26 sacks of bhang, Sh13.4 million in cash, four cartons of Oris containing 200 pieces of cigarettes, one carton containing 200 pieces of High-class cigarettes, 173 packaged sweets and a carton of suspected weed cookies.

The cash was said to have been hidden under a bed.

The other suspects were last week Wednesday presented before a court at the JKIA where the prosecution successfully asked for more time to hold them.

The court allowed police to detain them until August 21 when the case was mentioned.

The court ordered the Sh13.4 million that was recovered be kept at the Central Bank of Kenya.

The court ordered the suspects to be taken for mental tests before they are brought back on Tuesday for the ruling on if to detain them or not.

According to police, Nancy has in the past been arrested and charged with trafficking narcotics.

She operates in the Kariowa B slum within Ngara, Nairobi.

Kariowa B is an informal settlement occupying a road reserve along Kipande Road.

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