Narcotics worth over Sh.100,000 and old court records were on Wednesday set ablaze by the Lamu law courts in compliance with Chief Justice Martha Koome’s directive.
The CJ had issued an order to declutter court systems and premises.
The narcotics which included heroin, bhang and Rohypnol had been held by the court as exhibits for cases that had since been heard and settled years back.
The exercise which was led by Lamu Principal Magistrate Allan Temba also saw the burning of over 10,000 old court records which included files, books and papers containing criminal and traffic cases ranging from the years 1990 and 2010.
The exercise took place at the secluded dumpsite in the Kashmir area on Lamu Island.
Temba said the burning of the drugs exhibits was still meant to send a strong warning to drug dealers.
In a gazette notice dated February 11 last year, the CJ authorized the destruction of old records between the years 1990 and 2010.
“We are doing this in compliance with the CJ’s directive. We had over 10,000 old records and over 28 narcotic files from then. We have also destroyed drug exhibits from the same period,” said Temba.
He said another batch of over 10,000 old court records and more drug exhibits will be destroyed in a similar fashion in the next quarter which begins in June this year.
The magistrate said in keeping up with the directive, the court will strive to ensure the timely conclusion of drug-related offences to enable early destruction of the exhibits to avoid overcrowding court premises and systems.
He however revealed that older court records involving matters of succession and civil will not be destroyed as many are still pending litigation.
“We shall wait to be done with litigation since it won’t be fair to the parties involved if we destroyed the records now,” he said.
In June 2022, the Lamu Law Courts set ablaze a bhang consignment worth over Sh1 million that had been held as an exhibit.
