A Mombasa businessman whose luxurious yacht was blown up in 2015 on presidential orders over links to trafficking heroin worth over Sh28 million is now a free man.
Senior Principal Magistrate Henry Nyakweba on Friday acquitted Bilal Kimali Ndechumia (pictured) of all drug trafficking charges after the prosecution failed to link him to the narcotics.
Ndechumia was charged with two counts of trafficking in narcotics worth Sh22 million found stashed inside a water tank of his multi-million yacht.
He was arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on April 10, 2017, after being extradited from Madagascar where he was running his business.
READ MORE
Boda boda riders trained in security drive to help curb rising motorcycle-linked crime in Kilifi
Alcohol smugglers ditch flashy cars for ambulances to evade police
Thai police seize 1.6 tonnes of drugs hidden under cabbages
Kenya calls for urgent global action as new drug threats emerge
Among those arrested in connection with the narcotics were the yacht's captain, Clement Serge Bristol a Seychelles national, and four Kenyans - Ahmed Said Bakari, Mohamed Bakari Mohamed, Sharifu Mzee Mohamed and Ahmed Hussein Salim
Bakari and Bristol were each sentenced to 22 and 10 years respectively last year by Chief Magistrate Julius Nang'ea.
The court heard that the Inspector General (IG) of Police Joseph Boinnet ordered the arrest of Mr Ndechumia for seeking release of the vessel.
Investing officer George Odhiambo had admitted that Ndechumia was arrested after police assumed he was privy to the narcotics aboard the yacht.
