Since the late 1970s, two men have emerged as the most powerful and most dangerous drug lords in the world.
Pablo Escobar, a farmer’s son from rural Colombia, and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a product of Mexico’s rugged Sierra Madre Mountains, have delivered immeasurable amounts of cocaine and other drugs to the world during their respective reigns.
In doing so, they’ve amassed obscene amounts of wealth – and exposed the world to unimaginable levels of terror.
While a direct comparison of Escobar’s,and Medellin cartel and Akasha brothers of Kenya is difficult – they’ve dealt with different products, different competition, and different markets – looking at the two groups’ leaders side by side gives some idea of their power and influence.
Pablo was a feared and infamous Columbian Drug Lord who was known as ”The King of Cocaine”.
He rose to become one of the most powerful and notorious drug kingpins in the world. He was responsible for drugs that entered Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and the United States.
From this, he became a billionaire with an estimated net worth of around $25 to $30 billion. At the time, he was viewed as one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Pablo Escobar was also a ruthless man and was involved in several bombings and massacres.
Despite being an evil man, he was loved by the people of Medellin. He paid for the construction of schools, churches and hospitals.
Sitting on the throne of drug barons in Kenya is the Akasha family. The world came to know their name when the forefather of the family Ibrahim Akasha brought to court in 1996, charged on drug trafficking.
Ibrahim Akasha was a Swiss-based billionaire, the value of whose estate was estimated at USD 100 million, and who owns property in Amsterdam, the Middle East and Asia. Following Ibrahim’s reign, in 1998 it was his brother’s turn: the allegation was for a heroin possession worth USD 140,000. In his absentia, Ibrahim Akasha hired a Yugoslavian conduit to ship his consignment to Europe. This new agent was linked up to an international syndicate based in Amsterdam: at the top of the Dutch gang was Sam Klepper, a notorious drug trafficker born in the Netherlands. Akasha’s inside men in Amsterdam were the Barsoums brother, Mounir and Magdi.
For a couple of years the new collaboration between the Dutch and the Kenyan gangs ran smoothly. The equilibrium cracked in 1999 when the payment for a drug consignment failed: the event sparkled an internal feud then ended when the Akasha abducted the Dutch gang’s Yugoslavian agent from which they managed to cash in USD 211,000.
Sam Klepper had it in 2000, while Ibrahim Akasha was shot dead while walking hand-in-hand with his wife in Bloedstraat [Blood Street], Amsterdam. It is likely that Mounir Barsoum pulled the trigger. Some days before Ibrahima Akasha had received a phone call from Magdi Barsoum inviting him to Amsterdam.
He had obtained the Dutch visa in Spring 2000, just in time to avoid to be caught by the police who found 4.7 tons of heroin worth Sh940 million in the up-market Nyali Estate, Mombasa, the Akasha’s home. Kenyan state was preparing to seize all the family assets. In the end, all the operation was a failure: they didn’t succeed in breaking the Akasha’s empire.
For a feud that stopped, a new one started: this time Klepper’s gang was fighting against a Yugoslavian gang led by the famous drug dealer Streten “Jotcha” Jocic which joined the syndicate. Yugoslavs pushed for executing Ibrahim Akashah. The feud kept leaving fresh blood on the turf: in October 2000 Keller was killed, followed by the Barsoums brothers in 2002 and 2004.
Since the ‘90s, drug dealing has always been a trademark for Akashas. According to Kenyan intelligence, The Netherlands was the final destination of the huge haul of 1,2 tons of cocaine cargo seized in 2004. They suspected that the Akashas were the men behind it. The US Drug Enforcement Agency “had spent years infiltrating Akasha and alleges that the gang is part of a heroin supply chain that stretches from the poppy fields of Afghanistan through east Africa to the cities of Europe and the United States”, wrote Drazen Jorgic in a Special report by Reuters. “In documents filed in a court in the Southern District of New York on November 10th, 2015, the U.S. prosecutors alleged that the Akasha organisation was responsible for the “production and distribution” of large quantities of narcotics in Kenya, Africa and beyond”, continues the report.
The family today is composed as follows:
Baktash Akasha Abdallah – considered by intelligence sources as the new boss.
Ibrahim Akasha Abdallah – younger, he follows Baktash
Nichu Akasha Nichu – runs a garage in Parklands area, in Nairobi
In November 2014, the U.S. government requested the extradition of Baktash Akasha Abdallah, Ibrahim Akasha Abdallah because of what the DEA stated about their trafficking, delivered to The US.
In a report, Baktash is described as the leader of an organised crime and drug trafficking network and his bother Ibrahim, a chief lieutenant in Baktash’s alleged drug trafficking activities.
Four suspected top drug traffickers in Kenya awaiting extradition to the United States were freed on bail Monday, amid concerns of east Africa’s growing importance as a smuggling hub.
The four – two Kenyans, an Indian and a Pakistani – were arrested last month with 98 packets of suspected heroin, with the US issuing an Interpol “red notice” for their capture and request for their extradition