British National Arrested for Trafficking Cocaine in Kenya Denied Bail

Jack Alexander Marrian, a British national and son of a Scottish aristocrat who was arrested in Kenya for trafficking cocaine worth £2.2 million, has been denied bail by a Kenyan court.

Marrian, 31, was arrested on July 29 alongside his Kenyan accomplice, Roy Mwanthi, for allegedly smuggling 100kg of cocaine concealed in a container at the port of Mombasa, Kenya. The cocaine was found by a team of Kenyan police and US Drug Enforcement Agency officials.

The consignment was reportedly concealed as brown sugar from Brazil en route to Uganda. Marrian is alleged to be the managing director of Mshale Commodities, a Kenyan-based sugar importing company, while Mwanthi is the director of Inland Africa Logistics Limited, a local transport company.

The British national had concealed in a container at the port of Mombasa, Kenya, had been released earlier on a 70 million shilling bond with two Kenyan sureties of the same amount, but was later rearrested after the Kenyan prosecution obtained a stay order from the High Court stopping his release.

Mwanthi, however, was released on a $30 million cash bail or a 60 million shilling bond with two sureties.

Challenging the decision by Kibera’s Senior Resident Magistrate Derrick Kuto to release the accused on bail, the Kenyan public prosecutor Keriako Tobiko argued that the two might seek to jump bail and flee the country.

If found culpable, Marrian and his Kenyan accomplice risk going to jail for life, as per the Kenyan law on drug trafficking.

Who Is Jack Marrian?

Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, a spokeswoman for Mshale Commodities said the company is ready to provide any supporting documents to prove Marrian’s innocence. He is the managing director of Mshale Commodities Limited.

“We are confident that Jack Marrian will be fully exonerated once the facts are presented,” she said.

Jack Alexander Wolf Marrian was born in 1985 and belongs to the Clan Campbell of the Cawdor line of Scottish nobility. Marrian’s mother, Lady Emma Campbell, who was in court together with other family members, said that her son had nothing to do with the drugs. She further described his innocence as “palpable and obvious,” according to the Guardian.