This archive report was first published on 27 July 2019.
On July 27, 2019, the Southern District of New York Court announced a delay in the sentencing of Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha, brothers accused of drug trafficking. The new sentencing dates are August 16, 2019, for Baktash and November 8, 2019, for Ibrahim.
The brothers had pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking charges in October 2018. Their initial sentencing was set for April 2019 but was postponed to July 2019 after the prosecution requested time to present evidence linking Baktash to the killing of a drug dealer in South Africa.
According to court records, Baktash and Abdalla Akasha were arrested in 2014 in Nyali, Kenya, for allegedly trafficking 98 heroin packets. The suspects were on Interpol's watch list, and the prosecution sought 21 days in remand to facilitate extradition.
After a lengthy extradition process, the Akasha brothers were sent to the U.S. in January 2017, where they faced charges related to a major smuggling operation connecting Afghanistan's poppy fields to European and American cities.
