Storm over secret transfer of Akasha son

Mombasa, Kenya: The Government has admitted that police secretly removed the son of slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha from Mombasa's Port Police Station on November 12 and flew him to Nairobi for interrogation without a court order.

The admission sparked a storm of protest from defence lawyers who claimed Kenyan authorities may be planning to extradite him and other suspects to the US illegally.

Two of Akasha's sons,Baktash Akasha Abdalla and Ibrahim Akasha Abdallah, were arrested alongside other suspects on Sunday evening over their alleged link to the heroin trade.

Following an admission by the head of the Anti-Narcotics Unit, Hamisi Masa, that Ibrahim was secretly flown to Nairobi without his lawyers or court being informed, the defence sought a new court order prohibiting any such illegal extradition to be served to Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku and Mombasa County Commander Robert Kitur.

Mr Masa swore an affidavit dated November 18 admitting Ibrahim's removal but added it was not "done maliciously or with the intention of handing him over to any other authority without orders of this court".

Ibrahim's lawyer Cliff Ombeta first raised the matter in court last week, disclosing that four police officers took his client from police cells with neither his nor the court's permission, and flew him to Nairobi for interrogation.

On Wednesday, Mr Ombeta said the fear of an illegal hand-over to the US was real and further claimed that Kenya appeared to be under US orders on this matter.

Defending Masa's affidavit, Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alex Muteti pleaded with Mombasa Chief Magistrate Maxwell Gicheru not to find the action by the investigators illegal because they did so without ill motive.

"It was an innocent act and the officers did not violate court orders," he said.