Akashas risk life sentences in US over drug dealing

What you need to know:

  • The Kenyan brothers both pleaded guilty in October to several violations of US drug laws, including a conspiracy to smuggle 99 kilogrammes of heroin and two kilos of methamphetamine into the United States.

  • The Akashas also admitted to obstructing justice by systematically bribing Kenyan police officers, judges and a prosecutor in an attempt to prevent their extradition to the US.

  • None of the Kenyans who took payoffs have so far been named in the proceedings in US federal court in Manhattan.

NEW YORK

International narcotics traffickers Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha could be handed sentences of life imprisonment in separate court sessions scheduled to take place in New York this week.

The Kenyan brothers both pleaded guilty in October to several violations of US drug laws, including a conspiracy to smuggle 99 kilogrammes of heroin and two kilos of methamphetamine into the United States.

The Akashas also admitted to obstructing justice by systematically bribing Kenyan police officers, judges and a prosecutor in an attempt to prevent their extradition to the US.

None of the Kenyans who took payoffs have so far been named in the proceedings in US federal court in Manhattan.

As part of an agreement with prosecutors reached before their guilty pleas, the brothers are facing prison terms ranging from 10 years to life with no possibility of parole.

The plea deal also stipulates that the Akashas may each be fined in amounts ranging from $50,000 (Sh5m) to $10 million. The brothers further agreed to forfeit all the money they pocketed from their illicit drug trade. Those sums are not specified in US court documents.

In accordance with the plea bargain, the brothers have agreed not to appeal the sentences to be imposed by presiding Judge Victor Marrero.

Ibrahim, 29, is set to learn his fate on Thursday, while Baktash, 42, is due to be sentenced on Friday.

DRUG EMPIRE

Judge Marrero has the discretion to put each of the Akashas away for however long he deems fit. And it is possible that he will sentence Baktash to a term longer than Ibrahim's.

US prosecutors have depicted the elder brother as the head of the Akashas' long-standing drug empire based in Mombasa. Ibrahim, the prosecutors say, functioned as Baktash's deputy.

They describe Baktash in court papers as “a lifelong criminal of epic proportions”.

The US government's attorneys have also sought to link Baktash to the 2014 contract killing in South Africa of a drug gangster identified only as “Pinky.” The older Akasha has not been formally charged with involvement in that murder, but US prosecutors have introduced this element into his case in order to amplify their call for imposing a maximum sentence on Baktash.

The brothers have already been confined in New York detention centres for more than two-and-a-half years. The time they have been held has been stretched out due to a number of postponements in their trial and sentencing dates, mostly in response to requests by defence lawyers.

The Akashas and two other alleged leaders of their organisation were brought to New York at the end of January in 2017. Kenyan authorities handed the four men over to US Drug Enforcement Agency officials even though extradition proceedings had not been concluded in their cases.

Judge Marrero subsequently rejected claims by defence attorneys that the US court system had no right to adjudicate the Akashas' case because the brothers had in effect been kidnapped from Kenya. Officials in Nairobi said the four men had been “expelled” from Kenya.

HEALTH ISSUES

The other two figures in the drug case — India national Vijay Goswami, described as the manager of the Akasha Organisation, and Gulam Hussein, a Pakistani said to be the head of the Kenya-based drug-transport network — have not pleaded guilty to the charges against them Neither has been scheduled for a court hearing. Defence attorneys and US prosecutors have not responded to press queries as to the two men's status.

Goswami is believed to have agreed last year to co-operate with the prosecution. His apparent willingness to implicate the two brothers in multiple crimes is thought to have led the Akashas' attorneys to make a plea deal with US authorities rather than pressing ahead with a costly trial.

Hussein may also have agreed to work with US prosecutors.

In an effort to win less-than-lifetime sentences for the Akashas, their defence attorneys have told Judge Marrero that the brothers have serious health issues.

Ibrahim is said to have been receiving mental health counselling while in detention due to depression. Baktash suffers from diabetes, hypertension, ulcers and “morbid obesity,” and has attempted suicide, according to defence attorney George Goltzer.

The lawyer told the judge that Baktash is the victim of an abusive upbringing that included sexual molestation by several of the elder Akasha's half-brothers.

Mr Goltzer has also sought to soften Baktash's admission of obstructing justice by arguing that bribes paid to Kenyan officials reflected widespread and routine corruption in Kenyan society.