They are famous world over for their links with the Mexican and the Colombian cartels and are believed to on own major stake in the world drug business and right now there are making headlines all over after they were extradited to the States to face drug trafficking charges.
Stories are told of how everyone knows them in Colombia that they don’t even pay when they go to hotels or the bars and even whore dens…..their riches are also something to bedazzle over with many people believe they have so much money that they can’t even account for it….just like it was with Pablo Escobar.
But before the year 2000, little was known about the Akasha family who most of the time kept a low profile mostly concentrating on moving large consignments of drugs across the globe. A story is told of how One day in May 2000, Kenyan drug lord Ibrahim Akasha was walking hand-in-hand with his wife when a gunman on a motorbike sped by.
The two had just stepped into Bloedstraat (Blood Street), in one of Amsterdam’s red districts, when the man whipped out a pistol and fired at Akasha.
Akasha’s death for the first time opened a window for a public peek into the operations of his trafficking empire in Kenya, and into the nasty underworld as gangland executions ensued in the Netherlands.
It was believed Akasha was caught in the crossfire of a vicious war between Dutch and Yugoslav gangs.
Media reports indicated Akasha had fallen out with Yugoslav barons active in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe over the non-payment of a consignment of heroin worth Sh200 million. Can you imagine that?
Some reports indicated Akasha was actually lured to Amsterdam to be killed, as the foreign drug barons had lost confidence in him. Other reports indicate that the same barons killed him to avoid paying money that they owed him for a shipment of heroin.
His troubles had started in 1996 when he was arrested and charged with drug trafficking in a Nairobi court. Newspapers splashed his pictures, and the publicity reportedly angered the barons who felt it could hurt their interests locally.
I know, it all sounds like a movie but that’s just a tip of the iceberg. The magic actually happens here in Kenya when his sons Baktash and Ibrahim hit the clubs.
Come on with me and prepare to be dazed:
Well to start us off, I hear when these guys enter the club- they tend to frequent Westlands clubs…they buy off the whole bar and ask the doors to be closed. Now if you happen to be in there, then you can count yourself lucky as you get to drink as much as you can on their tab. But on condition that you don’t leave until all the alcohol is all depleted. We talked to some nurse who works in a popular hospital near Westlands and they always record high numbers of alcohol poisoning cases whenever the Akasha’s are in town.
Sometimes when they have moved a major consignment and they are feeling philanthropic, then they stand at the entrance of the club and issue every patron who walks in a bundle of cash. It can be in the hundreds of thousands and sometimes it can be in the millions. Can you imagine making your way down to Brew Bistro westlands to nurse a break heart and you go back home with 2 million in the pocket?
My colleague Pauline told me how she once stumbled upon them together with her hot girlfriends and they hollad at them. Of course being hot lasses and not knowing who the guys were, they felt a bit sweet and wanted to curve them. But that was up until one of them opened the boot of his Mercedes S class and it was full of cash….I’m talking millions and millions of dollars. She tells me how they never saw one of their friends for a month as she decided to go with them.
At other times they come in hordes of groupies and bodyguards who are brandishing machine guns, muscle shirts and dark glasses. You immediately walk into the club and actually think you have walked into a scene of an action movie.
Lastly, always expect an Akasha party to get lit. If you happen to be in their entourage, then always be set for surprises. Sometimes you start off the night in Nairobi and finish it off in Amsterdam and this was after passing through Mauritius.
So when you hear the name Akasha, show some respeck!