The Supreme Court of Seychelles has sentenced two Ugandan nationals to seven and five years imprisonment for the importation of an illegal substance and a Seychellois involved in the same case was sentenced to seven and five years imprisonment for trafficking in an illegal substance, both of will be served concurrently.

Nadia Birungi, 27, was caught on October 5 last year at the International Airport with 449.32 grammes of cocaine, while Mutongole, 39, who also arrived on the same Ethiopian Airlines flight, had in his possession 291.61 grammes of cocaine. 

Upon reasonable suspicion after being questioned by customs officers, assisted by officers of the Drug Unit, the two Ugandans were sent for a CT scan and they disclosed at the Seychelles Hospital that they had concealed drugs inside their bodies.   

The third person involved in the case was Michael Andrew Jean, who in turn was charged with two counts of trafficking in a controlled drug. The 47-year-old resident of Corgate Estate, on the main island of Mahe, was found guilty of trafficking in cocaine brought in by Birungi and Mutongole.

The three pleaded guilty to the offences and admitted to the facts presented by the prosecution.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has a zero-tolerance policy towards trafficking and importation of illegal drugs.

The maximum penalty for importation of a controlled drug is life imprisonment and a fine of SCR 1 million ($73,000). While the offence of trafficking in controlled drugs carries a maximum of life imprisonment and a maximum fine of SCR 750,000 ($55,000).