Three Kenyan Fined For Peddling Prohibited Plants

Michael Mashiri

Three Kenyans have been fined for importing and selling illegal plants into the country.

Catherine Nyokabi Wambugu, Sarah Wangari Njoroge and Daniel Mwatha Ndonga, pleaded guilty to the charges of importation of prohibited goods before magistrate Simon Kandiyero at the Harare Magistrates' Courts.

Kandiyero sentenced Wambhungu and Njoroge to pay a fine of US$400 in default to serve four months in jail and Ndoga was fined US$500, in default to serve five months imprisonment.

The court was informed that Louisa Makumbe, the Acting Head of Institute of the Plant Quarantine Services Institute, which is under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, was informed that the three were smuggling prohibited and restricted nursery products into Zimbabwe.

On June 18, 2024, Makumbe was advised that the trio had landed in Zimbabwe staying at a lodge in Hillside and were selling their products at Mwana Dream Park in Eastlea.

The police teamed up with Makumbe, Georgina Mwaramba and Shelter Kazangarare, who are Health Inspectors at the Plant Quarantine Services.

When they arrived at the office, the team allegedly saw the three busy distributing plant seedlings to their customers.

They introduced themselves and recovered three bags of various plant species.

The detectives asked the three to produce a permit, or any documentation authorising them to deal in imported plant seedlings species, and they produced expired documents, which were not consistent with their consignment leading to their arrest and recovery of the smuggled plant seedlings.