The sentencing of confessed Kenyan drug trafficker Baktash Akasha has been deferred to July 25th, 2019.
New York federal court judge Victor Marrero, who has been presiding over the Akasha case, on Wednesday agreed to postpone the sentencing that was scheduled for April 19th.
This comes after the prosecution applied to present evidence linking Baktash to the killing of a drug dealer in South Africa identified as “Pinky.”
The sentencing of Baktash’s younger brother Ibrahim is slated for July 26th.
The two are facing sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking and bribery last November.
US prosecutors have urged judge Marrero to impose the maximum sentence on Baktash, describing him as “a lifelong criminal of epic proportions.”
Baktash and Ibrahim were extradited to the US in January 2017 after government agencies discovered a major smuggling operation linking the poppy fields of Afghanistan to cities in Europe and the US.
For decades, the name Akasha has been synonymous with notoriety and impunity.
Like all prominent families, the Akasha clan embodies a mix of the good and the bad. Naturally, family members proclaim innocence but, significantly, most of them have lived within the law, avoiding jail or being freed on appeal after conviction.
Their father, Ibrahim Akasha, was gunned down in an alleged assassination in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2000.
He left behind three wives, sons and daughters to continue running the Ksh.20billion family business.
Kamaldin Akasha, Baktash Akasha and Ibrahim Abdalla Akasha hit the road running amidst a waging family feud over control of the estate.
The three daughters have since kept out of limelight and very little is known about them.
Two years later, another tragedy struck: Ibrahim’s second-born son Kamaldin Akasha also died.
Kamaldin died at Pandya Hospital in Mombasa after a hemorrhagic shock due to gunshots to the neck and head.