Slain Swaleh Yusuf: Court cases reveal other suspected Coast drug barons
Swaleh Yusuf Ahmed in Mombasa Magistrate's Court on January 24, 2019.
Even though Swaleh Yusuf Ahmed alias Candy Rain or Kandereni has exited the scene, cases in various courts at the Coast have exposed an alleged wider ring of drug trafficking suspects and networks involving Kenyans and foreigners.
These illicit drug cases, in Mombasa, Shanzu, Kilifi, and Malindi courts, have exposed suspicions on how the Coast is getting supplies from different sources, which investigators believe are either interlinked or are just random persons who are being used by notorious traffickers to facilitate their trade.
Almost all suspects linked to this illicit trade were arrested while in possession of heroin. The charges are mainly possession and trafficking in narcotics.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), heroin produced from poppy grown in Afghanistan, has for decades been shipped from ports along the Makran coast of Iran and Pakistan on large ocean-faring dhows or small vessels to port cities across the Indian Ocean coast.
The UNODC says this corridor known as the Southern Route, is the major conduit for illicit maritime flows from which translational organised crime groups generate considerable revenues. Though Kenya has been waging war on this illicit trade, pending cases and new ones that are being registered indicate that the State has a long way to go as far as fighting the illicit trade is concerned.
A dangerous trend has also been emerging where more women are being arrested and arraigned over drug trafficking. Tanzanian national Ms Jumanne Maimuna Amir is among suspects still facing drug-related charges. She was arrested with 5.3 kilogrammes of heroin worth Sh15 million.
The woman was apprehended by Anti-Narcotic officers in 2021 at the Moi International Airport as she arrived in the country.
The substance was concealed in a suitcase with a false bottom and top, wrapped in polythene sachets, curry powder, and pepper to mask the odour.
The investigations file indicate that the narcotics might have originated from South Africa and went through Addis Ababa.
Her case is still pending before Mombasa court. She had denied committing the offence.
Ms Amir’s arrest happened barely a month after four people among them two Tanzanians were arrested with two kilogrammes of heroin worth Sh6 million. While the State deported the two foreigners, their Kenyan counterparts
Ms Mwanasomo Mohammed, 52, and Said Aboobakar ,53 , were taken to court to face drug trafficking charges. The two were charged with the offence of trafficking two kilograms of heroin valued at Sh6 million. In 2021, detectives seized heroin worth Sh110 million at a house in Kisauni.
Read: Kandereni: Slippery drug baron seeking to take over Akasha narcotics empire
Ms Nuru Murshid Mahfudh was arrested in connection with the seizure and presented before Shanzu court where the State alleged she trafficked 36,764 grammes of heroin with a market value of Sh110,292,000 , that was recovered at her residence.
The detectives told the court at the time that their counterparts from Transnational Organised Crime Unit believe that Ms Mahfudh could be working with other women to distribute the substance either within the country or outside.
The officers also recovered a passport bearing the name of Farid Shaban Athman in the same room during the arrest , raising eyebrows among the investigative agencies who believed there could be a network of women working with Ms Mahfudh to run the business.
When Ms Mahfudh appeared before Shanzu court for the first time, detectives said they were pursuing crucial leads with the likelihood of arresting accomplices.
Police also believed that due to the high quantity and value of the hard drugs, the scales, and other equipment recovered at her residence, it was clear the suspect could either be a distributor or working with traffickers.
Digital weighing scale were among items recovered at her residence.
Ms Mahfudh was not the only one who had fallen into the hands of the police for engaging in this illicit business. Fatuma Sicobo Mohamed was among the people who the police linked to the drug business.
The 40-year-old trafficked 2,466.4 grams of heroin worth more than Sh7.3 million. Unfortunatley for her, she was not lucky as she was jailed for life. She was sent to Shimo La Tewa Women’s prison on December 15 ,2020. Sicobo was additionally fined Sh22.1 million.
The mother of three filed an appeal against life imprisonment and wants the High Court to quash it and set her free.
Sicobo had been charged together with Masuo Bakari Tajir However, Bakari was acquitted after the court found that there was no evidence linking him to Sicobo.
In one of these cases, prosecution lost to the defence after it emerged that drugs confiscated from Swaleh were tested in his absence.
The first test which was done in his presence turned negative for the narcotic but a second one conducted in his absence turned positive.
The court could, therefore, not conclude that items found in the accused house were the same that were subject to test, and turned positive. Ms Zahra Ali Akharazi is also facing similar charges at the Shanzu law court, accused alongside 40-year–old New Zealand national Mr Selby Dean Freeman of trafficking cocaine worth Sh47,000.
The State claims Mr Freeman is a fugitive sought in Malaysia for alleged involvement in drug trafficking in 2012.
The woman, along with Mr Freeman, Alfin Allaudin Akbrelali Alibhai, and Abdul Lateef Ibrahim (Nigerian), are accused of trafficking 11.9 grammes of cocaine and 355.3 grammes of cannabis worth Sh47,600 and Sh71,060, respectively. The prosecution says that the suspects committed the offence at an apartment in Nyali Sub-County, accusations they have all denied. The trial of suspects in drug trafficking cases has however exposed gaps that are hindering the successful prosecution of suspects.
For instance is a case where Swaleh was charged alongside his wife, Asma Abdalla, of trafficking 201.1 grammes of heroin worth more than Sh603, 000. During the search, it emerged that Swaleh and his lawyer Jared Magolo were denied access to where the police were looking for the drugs.
Swaleh Yusuf Ahmed (left) and his wife Asma Abdalla Mohamed in Shanzu Court on February 21, 2017.
In protest, Swaleh refused to sign the inventory and search certificates that had allegedly been produced at his home in Kikambala.
Swaleh won this case as the court noted that the police had no warrant to search his house while his wife was not present when the alleged search was being conducted. Two weeks ago, the killing of Swaleh shocked many with questions remaining unanswered whether he was executed by the police or by his fellow drug dealers.
Police have since denied any involvement into his death but as he exists, the fight against drugs seems not to be over with government seem doing very little to end the vice.
Swaleh was believed to be the leader of a drug cartel operating in Mombasa and Kilifi counties remaining as the most wanted by the police. Security operators claim that thousands of young people in the area are addicted to the substances which Swaheh was said to be behind.
Although Swaleh is now deceased, he leaves behind a legacy filled with controversies regarding whether he was a drug baron or just a small-time peddler.
After the dramatic arrest and deportation of the sons of the late drug baron Ibrahim Akasha, Baktash Akasha and Ibrahim Akasha, Swaleh became a targeted individual as the police suspected him to be the next major threat in the fight against drug trafficking along the Coast.
While the Akashas were primarily involved in the trafficking of heroin and methamphetamine, Swaleh was accused of dealing in heroin and cocaine. Originally a matatu driver in Mombasa, Swaleh gained attention when he was sentenced to 15 years in 1996 for heroin trafficking and was incarcerated at Shimo La Tewa Prison.
He was released three years later, in 1999, under unclear circumstances.
Swaleh was later re-arrested in 2001 when it was discovered that falsified documents were used to secure his release, claiming that the Court of Appeal had granted him bond pending the outcome of his appeal.
Nearly a decade later, in 2010, Swaleh was arrested and charged with drug trafficking offenses under Mombasa Criminal case (cr) no. 341/153/2010-court file 848/2010. He was convicted a year later and sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 2013, he faced the same drug trafficking charges under CR342/103/2013-CF-762/2013. In 2017, Swaleh and his wife Asma Abdalla Mohamed were arrested and charged with a similar drug trafficking offense before the Shanzu court.
In the same year, the couple faced another similar charge before the same court but under a different file number.
