While making his 4th State of the Nation address on Wednesday, he revealed that the country was cooperating with other international law agencies to dismantle the cartels/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 15 – The war on drugs is going to be sustained and those behind the business punished, President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared.
While making his 4th State of the Nation address on Wednesday, he revealed that the country was cooperating with other international law agencies to dismantle the cartels.
“Our war on illegal drugs is steadily being won. The streamlining of activities at our ports of entry, especially the Port of Mombasa, have resulted in rising successes against drug trafficking cartels,” he said.
“We are actively cooperating with several foreign law enforcement agencies to identify and bring to book the individuals involved in the international narcotics trade.”
His word to the addicts of illegal drugs: “My government will facilitate access to rehabilitation” while his message to distraught mothers “who have pleaded with me during my recent visits to the Coast that my administration will catch up with the drug lords who are poisoning our children.”
“I want to assure the families of the thousands of young men and women across the country, who are victims of the drug trade, that my government will facilitate access to rehabilitation.”
-International Collaboration-
Last month, Kenya handed over two sons of slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha and two foreigners to authorities in New York, where they are facing drug-related charges.
Baktash Akasha aged 40, his brother Ibrahim, 28, Gulam Hussein and Vijaygiri Goswami were arrested in Mombasa for conspiracy to import heroin and methamphetamine into the United States.
“As alleged, the four defendants ran a Kenyan drug trafficking organization with global ambitions. For their alleged distribution of literally tons of narcotics – heroin and methamphetamine – around the globe, including to America, they will now face justice in a New York federal court,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said on February 1.
DEA Special Operations Division Special Agent in Charge Raymond Donovan said the DEA pursues the most dangerous global drug traffickers who pose a direct threat to safety and stability around the world.
“We are relentlessly pursuing these criminal groups and their facilitators at every level with our law enforcement partners and we value and appreciate the work of our Kenyan counterparts. It is critical that we attack these dangerous networks before they can do even more damage worldwide and threaten innocent lives.”
US authorities say Baktash is the leader of an organised crime family in Kenya responsible for the production and distribution of narcotics within Kenya and throughout Africa.
READ: Akasha sons arrive in New York to face drug trafficking charges
“Moreover, the Akasha Organisation’s distribution network extends beyond the African continent to include the distribution of narcotics for importation into the United States.”
Goswami is accused of managing the Akasha Organization’s drug business, including the production and distribution of methamphetamine and the procurement and distribution of heroin.
Hussein – a resident of Pakistan and a long-time associate of Goswami – heads a transportation network that distributes massive quantities of narcotics throughout the Middle East and Africa, and has acknowledged responsibility for transporting tons of kilograms of heroin by sea.
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