A court in Burkina Faso has handed an eight-year jail term on a female drug trafficker, leaving her in tears as he admitted to the charges against her by the Economic and Financial Division (ECO-FI).
The trafficking offenses occurred between 2024 and 2025.
The High Court sentenced Djenebou (a pseudonym) on Tuesday to 11 years in prison, eight of which are to be served, and a fine of 10 million CFA francs for international drug trafficking and delivery, as reported by LeFaso.net.
Her criminal career began in Ghana, where she met Jacob, a gold miner who promised to marry her. Taking advantage of the young woman’s vulnerability amid her mother’s illness and financial hardship following her father’s death, Jacob gradually drew her into drug trafficking.
The first shipment was to Boromo, on behalf of Donald, Jacob’s brother. Suspicious of the four packages of drugs
concealed in loincloths, Djenebou questioned her partner, who ordered her to comply without asking any questions. “My mother was sick. I was the one taking care of the family. Since he had decided to help me, I
didn’t think long about what might happen,” she explained to the court.
Jacob’s arrest and imprisonment in Diébougou did not put an end to the trafficking. On the contrary, from his cell, he continued to orchestrate the criminal activity, giving Djenebou contact numbers in Ghana and recipients in Boromo and Bobo-Dioulasso.
The defendant carried out six drug runs before being apprehended by customs officials in Koudougou with 37 kg of drugs.
The prosecutor emphasised the seriousness of the charges, specifying that Donald was not the only recipient.
“She had become the driving force behind the drug deliveries.” “One of the recipients was a Malian man she met in Bobo,” he stated, while ruling out any link to terrorism financing after investigation.
Despite the defendant’s admission of guilt since the beginning of the investigation, the prosecution requested an 11-year sentence, with six years to be served in prison, and a fine of 10 million CFA francs, with 5 million to be served in prison.
“We don’t need to tell someone that drugs are bad. She received what she was getting and was bringing the money to prison,” the prosecutor emphasised. On her knees and in tears, Djenebou begged the court for leniency: “I admit that what I did was wrong. It was my family’s situation that got me into these problems. I swear I will never do it again.”
The court ultimately handed down a harsher sentence than the prosecution had requested, with a 24-month suspended sentence.
The convicted woman has 10 days to appeal.
The president also asked the prosecutor’s office to find Jacob and Donald, who are still on the run, so that they can answer for their actions.
HO/Sf/fss/as/APA