High-Profile Kenyans Named in Akashas Drugs List Set to be Extradited to the US

High-profile Kenyan individuals named in the Akasha drugs list are set to be extradited to the United States to face drugs and bribery-related charges.

US authorities have reportedly informed their Kenyan counterparts of their intention to charge the suspects in American courts, Daily Nation reported on Wednesday.

Among those who are set to be handed over to the US authorities a former senior official in the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), a number of judicial officers, a lawyer, politicians, and several government officials.

The suspects were named during court proceedings in New York by Kenyan drug lords Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha, who pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking and bribery charges in October last year. 

The two brothers confessed to bribing officials in Kenya, Tanzania and other countries to ensure their drugs moved across borders without inspection.

In their plea deal with US prosecutors, Ibrahim and Baktash allegedly agreed to surrender all cash and assets acquired through proceeds of drug trafficking.

The Akasha family could lose nine expensive houses located on the Kenyan coast, several high-end cars and assets estimated to be worth about Sh20 billion in Kenya and abroad.

The Akashas were arrested in Mombasa in January 2017 and later extradited to the US where they were put under the custody of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) personnel.

Baktash will be sentenced this Friday by the Southern District of New York Court while his brother Ibrahim will be sentenced on November 8th.  The two are facing jail sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.