US Attorney confirms Akasha brothers in custody, reveals their extensive global drug operations
The US Attorney revealed that the Akasha brothers ran a Kenyan drug trafficking organization with global ambitions.
Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha were whisked onto a chartered plane Monday night alongside Vicky Goswami (Indian) and Hussein Gulam (Pakistani) at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, bound for the US.
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Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Raymond Donovan, the Special Agent in Charge of the Special Operations Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said the four, who include two of the Akasha brothers, Baktash and Ibrahim arrived in New York after their arrest in Kenya as they extensively revealed their intrinsic network of drug operations.
The US state officials confirmed they were arrested pursuant to a United States request, based on charges filed in the Southern District of New York arising out of their participation in a conspiracy to import kilogram quantities of heroin and methamphetamine into the United States.
“On November 10, 2014, a superseding Indictment was returned also charging the defendants with narcotics importation offenses based on their delivery of 99 kilograms of heroin and two kilograms of methamphetamine in Kenya, which they intended would be imported into the United States,” a statement from the NY Attorney Office read.
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Global ambitions
Attorney Bharara revealed that the Akasha brothers ran a Kenyan drug trafficking organization with global ambitions.
He confirmed that they will now face justice in a New York federal court for their alleged distribution of literally tons of narcotics – heroin and methamphetamine – around the globe, including to America.
Baktash Akasha is identified as the leader of an organized crime family in Kenya (the “Akasha Organization”) responsible for the production and distribution of ton quantities of narcotics within Kenya and throughout Africa.
His brother Ibrahim meanwhile manages the Akasha Organization’s drug business, including the production and distribution of methamphetamine and the procurement and distribution of heroin.
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Supply and distribution of heroin
The attorney further revealed that over the course of several months, during telephone calls and meetings in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, the defendants agreed to supply, and in fact did supply, multi-kilogram quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to individuals they believed to be representatives of a South American drug-trafficking organization, but who were in fact confidential sources (the “CSes”) working at the direction and under the supervision of the DEA.
During an alleged meeting in Mombasa, Kenya, in April 2014, Baktasha is said to have introduced a CS via Skype to one of his heroin suppliers in Pakistan, who said he could provide 420 kilograms of 100 percent pure heroin – which he called “diamond” quality – for distribution in the United States.
In September and October 2014, Ibrahim personally delivered one-kilogram samples of methamphetamine and heroin to the CSes in Nairobi on behalf of the Akasha Organization. Thereafter, during a telephone call in October 2014 between Baktash and one of their accomplice reported that 98 “chickens” had arrived, referring to 98 kilograms of heroin.
Successful operations
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In early November that year, Ibrahim personally delivered 98 kilograms of heroin to the CSes in Nairobi on behalf of the Akasha Organization. A few days later, he again delivered another kilogram of methamphetamine.
In the course these negotiations, the Akasha Organization provided a total of 99 kilograms of heroin and two kilograms of methamphetamine to the confidential sources, and agreed to provide hundreds of kilograms more of each.
The defendants were arrested on November 9, 2014, in Mombasa, Kenya, prior to another planned meeting with the CSes.
Attorney Bharara thanked the DEA’s Nairobi Country Office, the Government of the Republic of Kenya, the Kenyan National Police Services Anti-Narcotics Unit, and members of the Kenyan DEA Formal Vetted Unit for the succeful operations that led to the Akasha brothers arrest.
Their case will now be be handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit.
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