Blood flows down Akasha bloodline

By Standard Reporter

Tragedy and controversy appear to follow the Akasha family, ten years after its patriarch, the notorious drug baron Ibrahim Akasha was assassinated in the Netherlands.

Akasha’s daughter-in-law, Suad Baktash, who was reported to have committed suicide early this month, is now the subject of a police investigation after some family members reported of suspected foul play in her death.

Suad, who was from the Ukraine and a mother of three, was the second wife of Baktash Akasha. Police sources said her body shall be exhumed on Wednesday for further examination to establish the cause of her death.

Baktash Akasha, son of the slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha, in a pensive mood recently. One of his wives Suad Baktash was found hanging dead in a bathroom of their Nyali residence recently under mysterious circumstances. Photo: Maarufu Mohamed/Standard

"I have received a letter from the pathologist to conduct the exhumation at the burial site at Guraya," the source confirmed.

Family members claimed Suad’s neck was broken and rested on her chest, raising doubts on the suicide theory propounded by other family members. The death took place early this month and she was buried immediately, in keeping with the Muslim tradition.

"The bruises on the neck indicated struggle. We were not convinced this was suicide," a family member said on condition of anonymity.

According to family sources, Suad was expecting a huge consignment of drugs just before her death, raising suspicions she may have been eliminated to allow someone to step in and grab the contraband. After all, double dealing is the hallmark of drug trade.

The incident has shocked the local Mombasa residents, coming so soon after the cold-blood killing of a senior security intelligence officer who was shot nine times at Bondeni. His car was blocked before the shooting. Nothing was stolen.

Police sources said investigating officers were greeted with hostility from the Akasha family.

Further examination

The officers who arrived at the scene were forced to use their guns to disperse family members opposed to them taking pictures at the scene of crime, would not hear a thing about police taking the body for further examination.

The Standard team investigating Suad’s death was also greeted with hostility. Several vehicles bearing no registration drove into the Akasha home in the upmarket Nyali, as their occupants spoke incessantly on their mobile phones.

The guards manning the gate asked the Press to leave immediately. Deputy Coast police chief, Henry Barmao said police would conduct investigations into the incident. So far, no suspects have been arrested.

Educationists fear with the growing number of youths joining drug trade, education standards in the region could be on a freefall.

The Coast Provincial Director of Education Tom Majani said the region has only 10 years to stop the menace or there will be no education programmes in the region.

"We must stop this menace or we shall have no education in this region as all the 800,000 youth are under threat of drug abuse and trafficking," he said.

Majani said the drugs were directed at the youth, which has compromised Government plan for education in the region.

He asked parents to find out why "drug barons target their children and the future education plans in the region."

Fugitive drug baron Ibrahim Akasha was shot dead by a hit man in the red light district of Amsterdam in 2000.

He had been lured to the notorious district by a telephone call from a business associate who asked to meet him there.

As he hurried down Bloedstraat – which means Blood Street – to the rendezvous, at exactly, the assassin riding on a bicycle fired four bullets into Akasha’s head, then disappeared into the maze of streets that mark the area.

The killing was typical of a gangland execution. Now with the suspicious death of Akasha’s daughter-in-law, blood appears to flow unabated in the family.