How drug lords access police drug exhibits and sell them to the highest bidder after receiving classified information

Prior to their arrest, the Akashas knew their way around the corridors of justice and police stations across Kenya.

Often, bribing their way to stay out of prison and to receive information that ought to be classified, a fact that aided in their avoiding of arrest for years, a new report shows. In addition, so brazen was their bribery that they could easily access police drug exhibits and sellthem to the highest bidder.

“More specifically, upon his arrest, the defendant, along with his co-defendants and other members of the Akasha family, paid bribes to slow their judicial proceedings and avoid extradition to the United States,” a US government document filed in a New York court states.

The Akashas were successful, as they first obtained bail, which assisted them in interfering with the extradition effort, and then obtained repeated adjournments of court dates related to the extradition request.

Arrange for security

US authorities term the corruption of the brothers and their associates as so “staggering and rampant,” that even after they had been arrested they were able to still engage in drug trafficking and discuss future deals with other drug manufacturers at one point obtaining ephedrine for resale, investing some Sh10 million for 3.5 tons of ephedrine.

In March 2015, Baktash, Ibrahim, Goswami, and an associate, Hafeez, agreed to set up a methamphetamine laboratory in Mozambique, and they went so far as to purchase a laboratory and arrange for security, all this while under the watch of Kenyan authorities.

“The following year, as their campaign of bribery continued, the defendants had a relative of the Akashas travel to India to provide logistical information for transporting 3.5 tons of ephedrine to factors in Tanzania and Mozambique,” the US report says.

On April 10, 2016, Indian authorities arrested an individual who provided information leading to the seizure of 18 tons of ephedrine from a manufacturer including the 3.5 tons that the Akashas were seeking to purchase.

“This did not, however, stop their bribery efforts — which continued successfully until the defendants were ultimately expelled.”

Even after their final arrest, the Akashas managed to access a phone, while in custody, and successfully communicated with partners in the high seas to turn back a ship containing some 500kg of heroine.

But the most brazen act of corruption could perhaps have happened in 2014 when they managed to access, in a 6-month period, some 7 tonnes of mandrax under police custody and ship it to a buyer in South Africa.