Akasha sons now hire US lawyer

The sons of slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha have hired a lawyer from the United States to fight extradition proceedings against them to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Lawyer Daniel Arshack will fight his country's request for Kenya to extradite the two sons to the US, according to the suspects' counsel Cliff Ombeta.

Mr Ombeta Monday introduced Mr Arshack to Justice Maureen Odero, saying the counsel was Akasha's family lawyer.

"My Lords, Mr Daniel Arshack from the US will hold brief for the family during the extradition proceedings in the court," said Ombeta.

The new twist comes as the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Monday said he was ready to appeal against the ruling by the Mombasa chief magistrate to release the accused on bail.

Baktash Akasha, Ibrahim Akasha, Vijay Goswami and Gulam Hussein were arrested last month to face extradition proceedings to go and face drug charges in the New York District court.

Monday, Assistant DPP Alex Muteti told the court he was ready with the appeal against Chief Magistrate Maxswell Gicheru's decision.

In his appeal, the DPP says they are opposed to the chief magistrate's decision in which bail was granted to the four suspected drug traffickers and yet he had found there were compelling reasons to deny them bail.

"The learned chief magistrate erred in law and in fact by varying his earlier order in which he had denied bail without any substantive new facts being presented before him to warrant change of mind from his earlier order," said Muteti in an application filed in court Monday.

He said the magistrate failed to appreciate the extradition proceedings preferred against the accused while they were a flight risk.