The United States is seeking to extradite Pakistan national Asif Hafeez, 63, from a prison in Britain to New York after he was linked to the Akasha brothers as their main supplier of narcotics.
The US states that Asif, who is jailed at Britain’s most secure prison known as Belmarsh, conspired to manufacture and distribute drugs knowing that such substances would be unlawfully imported into the US and waters near its coast. The authorities say Asif was the major supplier to Ibrahim and Baktash Akasha who were jailed for 23 and 25 years, respectively, by a US court after pleading guilty to trafficking heroin and methamphetamine, among other crimes.
The US believes that Asif was involved in drug deals alongside the Akasha brothers following a 2014 investigation carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“He knew the substance would be unlawfully imported into the US and into waters within a distance of 12 miles of the coast of the US from a place outside therefore, was one kilogram and more of mixtures and substances containing heroin, in violation of Title 21, US code section 960(b)(1)(A),” the US, through the Department of Justice said.
Asif was accused alongside the Akasha brothers, Bollywood star Mamta Kulkarni’s husband Vicky Goswami and Ghulam Hussein. The Nation has established that Goswami has been turned into a state witness against Asif, a trained pilot.
His woes started in 2014, when he unknowingly spoke to US spies who were following up on the source of cocaine to their country disguised as representatives of a Colombian drug cartel. They held a series of meetings with the Akasha brothers in Mombasa, which were recorded, and they agreed to be delivering cocaine to them.
Drug-trafficking
“Akasha met with the two individuals who described themselves as representatives of a Colombian drug-trafficking organization but who were in fact confidential sources working at the direction and under the supervision of the DEA. During the meeting, which was audio and video recorded, and after being told that the Colombian organization wanted to obtain a source of high quality heroin for importation into the US, Baktash Akasha told one of the investigators that he could supply any quantity of one hundred percent ‘white crystal’ referring to pure heroin,” the statement by the US Department of Justice reads.
The US Department of justice further said that in another meeting held on September 19, 2014, which now featured all those jailed alongside the Akashas, a revelation was made that the main supplier of the drugs was a person who they only identified as “Sultan”. Four days later, the “Sultan”, who the US says was Asif, then spoke to Goswami and one of the investigators on how they would get the heroine.
During the investigations carried out by the US, it emerged that Asif had made several contacts with the Akasha brothers and all were linked to drugs. On September 23, 2014, Asif became a man of interest to US security agencies.
The US believes that the Akashas used to get the cocaine supply from Asif and were only out to seek a market for him but did not know that they were interacting with US spies. The Akashas then delivered the drugs to spies setting themselves up as the main suspects.
According to the US Department of Justice, Goswami was arrested in Kenya after being found in possession of narcotics. When he was released on bail, he struck a deal with Asif to set up a factory in Maputo, Mozambique, where they would be producing methamphetamine to be distributed to other countries, including the US. Their attempt to smuggle the raw materials from India in 2015 failed as the goods were nabbed by officers in Asian country. The factory in Mozambique closed down indefinitely.
It is on these allegations that the US requested the provisional arrest of Asif by the UK authorities. The UK would then detain him on August 25, 2017.
At one point in his life Asif, gave information to spy agencies working for Pakistan, his home country, Dubai, the UK and the US, which saw him receive a lot of praise from Britain as he had helped in stopping a shipment of drugs into the UK.
UK based journalist Murtaza Ali Shah, a Pakistan national, told the Nation that in Britain Asif was known as a philanthropist and mingled with the who is who there. “He was always donating not only for the royal charities but also to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital. He also enjoyed precious time with Prince Charles and members of the English royal family in several events,” he said.
After he was arrested from his flat on August 17, 2017 by American agents, whose main aim was to extradite him to the US, he challenged the plan and remains in the British prison.
All efforts to halt his extradition have failed in the UK and the matter has been moved to the European Court of Human Rights.
The UK did not have any serious case against him. However, the court in the UK refused to grant him bail, arguing that he was well connected and had a deep circle of contacts around the globe, making it easy for him to vanish.
The Nation is in possession of an appeal made by Asif’s lawyers to the High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division Administrative Court. In the appeal, in which the US government has been listed as a respondent, Asif’s lawyers argue that his co-defendants, who were extradited from Kenya, raised serious issues of abuse of executive power and due process.
“In addition, it was submitted that the applicant faces a flagrant denial of justice in the US and a breach of his Article 6 rights due to the reliance by the US on witnesses who have been subjected to an arbitrary and lawless process of rendition from Kenya and inhuman and degrading treatment with the complicity of the US government,” part of the appeal reads. He further argues that the arrest of his co-accused in Kenya was unlawful since the Kenyan High Court had directed US witnesses to attend court but instead of complying with these orders the US authorities facilitated their transfer to the US outside of any judicially sanctioned process of extradition.
In his appeal to the European court, Asif’s lawyer presented two considerations—that if extradited to the US he would face life without parole and that the infirm Asif would suffer inhumane conditions with increased risks due to Covid-19.
BY DAILY NATION