Akasha brothers plead guilty to drug trafficking in U.S.

Two Akasha brothers Baktash and Ibrahim have pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking at a court in the U.S.

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the two brothers pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York.

“The DCI Director of Anti Narcotics Unit had assembled a water tight case in partnership with the UN office of Drugs and Crime,” the investigations body said on Thursday.

The DCI further revealed that the Director of the Anti Narcotics Unit flew to the U.S. having diligently prepared the case.

A statement from the DCI on Twitter said the Akasha brothers also pleaded guilty to corruption to defeat extradition and conspiracy to use guns to facilitate their drug trafficking business.

The Akashas were extradited to the U.S. in January 2017 after government agencies discovered a major smuggling operation connecting the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the cities of Europe and the United States.

In 2014, Baktash and Abdalla Akasha were among four suspects arrested in Nyali over their alleged involvement in the trafficking of 98 heroin packets in a house in Nairobi.