Six Pakistanis and one Iranian who smuggled heroin across the Indian Ocean to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The foreigners have been jailed since 2014 when they were arrested and charged with smuggling heroin worth 1.3 billion Kenyan shillings ($10 million).
The Mombasa court said on Friday that each of the convicts would be fined 3.9 billion Kenyan shillings. Each of them has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The seven were crew members of the Amin Darya, also known as the Al-Noor, and were arrested aboard the ship while it was at sea.
The ship was destroyed in an operation commanded by then-President Uhuru Kenyatta, who reiterated the country’s tough stance on drug trafficking.
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During the trial, the foreigners accused the police of tampering with the evidence after the ship was destroyed before the case was closed.
However, the judge said the court was satisfied with the evidence obtained before the ship was destroyed.
Police said they found 377 kg (831 lb) of heroin granules, 33,200 liters (8,770 gallons) of liquid heroin and 2,400 liters (634 gallons) of heroin-laced diesel fuel.
Kenya’s Attorney General has demanded that each of the men be sentenced to life imprisonment after the court sentenced them last month.
According to officials, the Kenyan coast has become a transit point for drug trafficking in the East African region.
