Sentencing for Akasha brothers postponed to August 16, Nov 8

The Southern District of New York Court has postponed the sentencing of Baktash Akasha and his brother Ibrahim Akasha to August 16, 2019 and November 8, 2019 respectively.

This was after the two, who were before Justice Victor Marrero, pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking charges in October 2018.

The sentencing which had earlier been set for April 2019 was postponed to July 2019 after the Prosecution applied to present evidence linking Baktash to the killing of a drug dealer in South Africa identified as “Pinky.”

In 2014, Baktash and Abdalla Akasha were among four suspects arrested in Nyali over their alleged involvement in trafficking 98 heroin packets.

State counsel, Alexander Mutei, told the court that the suspects were on Interpol’s watch list.

He then sought 21 days in remand for the suspects, to allow the extradition process to be completed.

The duo were extradited to the U.S. in January 2017 after government agencies from the two countries discovered a major smuggling operation connecting the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the cities of Europe and the United States.