NYC Gazette

Muhammad Asif Hafeez, known as "Sultan," has pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking in a Manhattan federal court. The announcement was made by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Hafeez's guilty plea relates to conspiring to import heroin, methamphetamine, and hashish into the United States. He was provisionally arrested in London on August 25, 2017, and extradited to the U.S. on May 12, 2023. The plea was entered before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron, with sentencing to be carried out by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero.

Damian Williams stated: "For more than two decades, Muhammad Asif Hafeez played a leading role in a sophisticated international drug trafficking network that was responsible for manufacturing and distributing ton quantities of dangerous narcotics to the U.S. and throughout the world." He expressed gratitude towards the DEA’s Special Operations Division for their efforts over several years.

Hafeez conspired with co-defendants Baktash Akasha Abdalla, Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla, Gulam Hussein, and Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami from at least 2013 until his arrest in 2017. The group aimed to import heroin into the U.S., with Baktash Akasha Abdalla leading an organized crime family known as the Akasha Organization based in Kenya. This organization distributed large quantities of narcotics across Africa and into the U.S., utilizing a network maintained for this purpose.

The investigation revealed that Hafeez supplied narcotics to this organization for many years. In October 2014, Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla delivered a one-kilogram heroin sample on behalf of Hafeez and the Akasha Organization to DEA-directed confidential sources in Nairobi. This delivery was followed by an additional 98 kilograms in November 2014.

Additionally, between approximately 1993 and his arrest in 2017, Hafeez conspired to import hashish and methamphetamine into the U.S., transporting multi-ton shipments to Europe and North America. Between 2013 and 2016, he attempted but failed to establish a methamphetamine-production facility in Mozambique after authorities seized about 18 tons of ephedrine from a factory in Solapur, India.

Hafeez faces charges carrying maximum sentences of life imprisonment with mandatory minimums of ten years each.

Baktash Akasha Abdallah and Ibrahim Akasha Abdallah previously pled guilty to related charges including importing drugs into the U.S., using weapons during their crimes, and obstructing justice through bribery attempts aimed at avoiding extradition from Kenya. They received sentences of 25 years and 23 years respectively.

Damian Williams acknowledged contributions from various DEA offices worldwide along with other international authorities involved in this case's prosecution handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jane Chong and Michael D. Lockard under the National Security and International Narcotics Unit.