On 22 November 2018, businessman Swaleh Yusuf Ahmed asked the High Court to move his narcotics case from Nairobi to Mombasa, saying the current venue is costly and difficult for his family and supporters to follow.
Ahmed is facing charges over trafficking 91,738 grammes of heroin, which prosecutors value at Sh275,214,000. He was charged at a JKIA court in Nairobi on October 26 and is seeking to have the matter heard closer to where he runs his businesses.
The case also names Fatuma Ahmed. The two are accused of trafficking by storing heroin that police say was discovered in suitcases and a gunny bag in Kikambala, Kilifi County.
According to the State, the drugs were recovered from Ahmed’s house in Kilifi on September 20 that year. Fatuma is separately alleged to have been arrested in Nairobi’s Eastleigh on September 21 at a relative’s house.
Through his lawyer Jared Magolo, Ahmed told Lady Justice Njoki Mwangi that it would be difficult and expensive for his friends and family to attend hearings in Nairobi. He argued that the matter should be heard in Mombasa because that is where the alleged offence took place.
“By filling charges away from where the offence was purportedly committed, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Inspector General of Police intend to punish Swaleh even before the trial begins,” said Mr Magolo.
The Director of Public Prosecutions opposed the request, saying Nairobi was the proper venue because six witnesses are based there. The court said it would deliver its ruling on December 29.
The article also appeared with a caption identifying Swaleh Yusuff Ahmed and his wife Asma Abdalla Mohamed at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa County.
