Jailed Kenyan Drug Lord Baktash Akasha's Son Charged with Robbery with Violence

The son of convicted drug trafficker Baktash Akasha was on Monday arraigned in a Mombasa court, where he was charged with robbery violence.

Baktash Akasha Baktash is accused of robbing Derick Gikanga Wanjiku and Naeem Yusuf Mohamed of money and property valued at Sh130,000. 

The 22-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charges before Shanzu Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo and was released on a Sh1 million bond with four sureties of a similar amount.

In 2019, a US federal court sentenced his father Baktash Akasha Abdalla to 25 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of $100,000

Baktash pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking and bribery in October 2018 before the Southern District of New York Court.

Justice Victor Marrero ruled that Baktash sought to smuggle large quantities of Heroin and Methamphetamine into the United States.

The judge further ruled that the convict conspired to possess machine guns and destructive weapons, and bribed Kenyan officials to avoid extradition to the US to face drug-related charges.

Baktash younger brother Ibrahim Akasha was handed a 23-year sentence by the same judge for conspiracy to import 99 kilograms to heroin, as well as conspiracy to import methamphetamine into the United States.

The Akasha brothers were arrested in Mombasa in 2014 alongside two other suspects; Hussein Shabakhash aka Old Man and Vicky Goswami.

The four suspects were captured at the request of American authorities for conspiracy to import 99 kilos of heroin and two kilos of methamphetamine into the U.S. They were extradited to the US in January 2017 to face trafficking charges.