Baktash Akasha, 41, and his brother Ibrahim Akasha, 29, each pleaded guilty before US District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan to seven criminal charges, including distribution of heroin and methamphetamine and conspiracy to import the drugs into the United States, according to court records.
The two Akasha brothers on Wednesday pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking and corruption charges before a court in New York, setting the stage for seizure of their multi-billion shilling assets.
Baktash Akasha, 41, and his brother Ibrahim Akasha, 29, each pleaded guilty before US District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan to seven criminal charges, including distribution of heroin and methamphetamine and conspiracy to import the drugs into the United States, according to court records.
The charges carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.
George Goltzer, Baktash Akasha’s lawyer, declined to comment. A lawyer for Ibrahim Akasha could not immediately be reached.
The case stemmed from a US Drug Enforcement Administration probe into the Akasha organization, which U.S. authorities described as a major smuggling operation connecting the poppy fields of Afghanistan to European and US cities.
Akashas’ admissions mean that the family stand to lose multi-billion property including assets worth Sh250 million seized by the government in Nairobi and Mombasa in 2000 pending conclusion of a drug suit against the brothers.
The assets include eight houses in posh Nairobi estates, a luxury boat, about 10 top-of-the range cars and two banks accounts holding Sh19 million.
But the Akashas are believed to own properties worth Sh20 billion including bank accounts, homes in foreign capitals and jewellery.
The empire was built by the family patriarch Ibrahim Akasha who was shot dead in Netherlands in a suspected drug related killing in May 2000.
Under the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act of 1994, the state is allowed to seize properties and assets of drug traffickers and dealers.
American Drug Enforcement Administration announced in February last year it was targeting to seize Akasha’s property estimated at more than Sh100 million for proceeds of drug trade in the US.
The DCI did not indicate whether or when the two will be sentenced. They could be sentenced to life imprisonment, according to US drug trafficking law.
They were arrested in Mombasa on January 28, 2017.
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