Couple charged with trafficking in Sh47 million worth of heroin in Mombasa

Swaleh Yusuff Ahmed (left) and his wife Asma Abdalla Mohamed at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa County on Tuesday 21st February 2017, where the two denied trafficking 15, 984 grams of heroine worth Ksh 47, 952, 020. The two have not been released on Bond following an Application by the State to deny the two Bond. However the Court has set a date to rule if they will be released on Bond or not. [Photo/Kelvin Karani/Standard]

A man and his wife have been charged with trafficking in more than 15,000kg of heroin.

According to court records, Swaleh Yusuff Ahmed and Asma Abdalla Mohamed were found with 15,984kg of heroin, which is valued at around Sh47 million.

The court heard that together with others, they committed the offence on February 13, 2017 at Bamburi in Kisauni, Mombasa County.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alexander Muteti and senior state prosecutors, Daniel Wamosa and Jami Yenina, told Principal Magistrate Diana Mochache that Mr Ahmed had been charged in 2010 and 2013 with similar charges and sentenced to 25 years in jail.

The prosecutors opposed their release on bond, terming them as people with selfish commercial interests who would pose grave danger to innocent people.

Mr Muteti said Ahmed was in 2011 sentenced for trafficking narcotics, but was later released by the High Court after appealing.

"The first accused person (Ahmed) was charged in 2010 with trafficking narcotics and was sentenced in 2011 to 25 years imprisonment. This indicates that he is likely to commit the same offence while free," said Muteti.

Mr Wamosa told the court that the two had demonstrated utter impunity in committing similar offences, and were likely to face more charges once investigations were complete.

Yenina said Ahmed had demonstrated a dangerous trend to continue with trafficking despite facing two similar charges earlier.

The magistrate is set to rule on the bond terms in March 2.

And in the same court, the Prosecution sought the detention of four money laundering and drug trafficking suspects for 21 days to enable detectives finish investigations.

The suspects, arrested on February 11, have been in detention since then. Police said they arrested the four with Sh18.5 million in cash and a brownish granular substance believed to be narcotics. The substance has not been tested.

Nabil Loo Mohamed, Stephen Mang'ira and Tanzanian Bakari Kali Bakari and Lilian Bernard Martin were arrested in Mombasa.

Last week, Ms Mochache allowed the detention of the four for five days to allow the police conclude their investigations.

But yesterday, the Prosecution also applied to forfeit the suspects' property including motor vehicles as court exhibits.

However, lawyers Jared Magolo and Cliff Ombeta opposed the application, saying the items had not been listed as court exhibits.

The items include an iPhone 6, iPhone 7 and a Black Berry phone.