DPP Keriako Tobiko now wants Akasha brothers arrested

The Director of Public Prosecutions wants the Akasha brothers arrested for failure to appear in court yesterday.

Baktash Akasha and Ibrahim Akasha and two foreigners from India and Pakistan have been battling extradition in a Mombasa court since November 2014 and the determination was scheduled for yesterday. They are out on bond.

Yesterday, the DPP's representative claimed medical reports indicating the two were sick were false and a tactic invented to delay the extradition matter.

Senior Assistant DPP Alexander Muteti denounced two medical reports brought by lawyers for the Akashas claiming they were falsified. Mr Muteti said the Akashas should be examined by a medical doctor at the Coast General Hospital CGH to determine their health status. He noted a report from the facility would help the court cross-examine the doctors whose reports were presented by the Akashas' lawyer yesterday.

 "The medical report presented before court gives a sense that the author of the document is not serious and it was meant to hoodwink the court. The accused deliberately avoided to attend the court hence a warrant of arrest should be issued to them to explain why they did not attend court," Muteti said.

Defence lawyers presented documents from Mombasa Hospital indicating that Ibrahim had undergone surgery with Baktash suffering an unspecified ailment.

Lawyer Cliff Ombeta, for the Akashas, countered by alleging a magistrate who was holding a brief in a separate court frustrated defence lawyers' attempts to notify the court about his clients' ailment and the scheduled surgery.

Chief magistrate Julius Nang'ea summoned the two doctors to court on November 24 to explain the medical reports.

The Akashas were indicted in New York alongside Indian felon Vijaygiri Goswami and Gulam Hussein (from Pakistan) with narcotic-related charges and face extradition to the USA.