This archive report was first published on 7 October 2019.
On October 7, 2019, The Times of India reported that a 36-year-old Kenyan woman, Mariam Mweke, was arrested in New Delhi after a seven-month chase for her alleged involvement in a drug trafficking ring.
Mariam had initially arrived in India in 2016 on a three-month tourist visa but remained in the country after its expiry, taking up odd jobs before being introduced to drug smuggling by another Kenyan national, Obum Favor.
According to Indian authorities, Mariam worked for Obum trafficking heroin between Delhi and Punjab before gathering her own contacts and suppliers and starting her own syndicate.
She appeared on the police radar in June 2018 after officers seized one of her heroin consignments and was arrested in November 2018. She was charged and freed on bail in January 2019, but jumped bail and evaded further trial proceedings.
“On January 7, 2019, the accused was granted bail by the court in Delhi but she jumped bail and evaded further trial proceedings,” the police told India Times.
After jumping bail, Mariam shifted to Mumbai, where she was involved in drug smuggling by taking consignments from Delhi-based African-origin drug traffickers.
Mariam had previously told the media that she was a divorcee who fled Kenya seeking better opportunities in India in 2016. She is a resident of Nairobi and has two children who live in Kenya.
