This archive report was first published on 17 August 2019.
On Friday, a US judge sentenced Baktash Akasha, a 42-year-old Kenyan, to 25 years in prison for his role in a large-scale heroin smuggling operation. The sentence was handed down by Judge Victor Marrero, who took into account mitigating factors cited by Akasha and his defence attorney.
Prosecutors had asked Judge Marrero to sentence Akasha to life in prison in response to his guilty plea 10 months ago. Akasha had admitted committing numerous drug-related crimes, as well as obstructing justice by bribing several Kenyan officials.
However, Judge Marrero noted that Akasha's plan to ship heroin into the US had not been 'fully consummated,' and that there was no indication that his weapons, including machine guns, were used directly in connection with the heroin smuggling plot.
Akasha could actually end up serving less than 20 years, defence attorney George Goltzer suggested following Friday's court session. He noted that Akasha could receive a potential reduction of more than three years for good behaviour in prison, in addition to being credited for the two-and-a-half years he has spent in a New York detention centre.
Akasha will be deported to Kenya upon his eventual release from a penitentiary in the US. His destination in the US prison system is not yet known, but an aide to Mr Goltzer said that 'deportable aliens' such as Akasha are sometimes sent to a privately-run Moshannon Valley Correctional Institution in the state of Pennsylvania.
Akasha was also slapped with a $100,000 fine as part of the punishment meted out by Judge Marrero.
US prosecutors sought during a hearing last month to link Akasha to the 2014 contract murder in South Africa of a drug gangster identified as Pinky. However, Judge Marrero appeared to have accepted that claim, and Akasha's defence attorney, George Goltzer, denied the allegation, saying that Akasha 'may have had an evil heart, but he did not have the capacity to kill anybody in South Africa.'
