Plot to free jailed Mombasa drug baron Swaleh Ahmed flops
Swaleh Yusuf Ahmed at the Mombasa Law Courts on January 24, 2019. He was charged with trafficking heroin valued at Sh275,214,000. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Between November last year and January 2019, three title deeds worth Sh61million were stolen from a Malindi court.
In 2010, Mr Ahmed was jailed for 25 years for trafficking five kilogrammes of heroin.
In 2011 and 2013 he was also charged at the Mombasa Law Courts with trafficking drugs, but he won the cases.
Ahmed was first convicted and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in 1996 for trafficking in heroin and was sent to Shimo La Tewa Prison in Mombasa.
Mombasa drug baron Swaleh Yusuf Ahmed seems to be inventing new ways of getting out of prison each time he jailed.
In the many instances he has been arrested in connection to trafficking of drugs worth millions of shillings, Ahmed, alias Kandereni, has 'mysteriously' come out of prison.
This time around, Ahmed who is remanded at Shimo La Tewa Prison after pleading not guilty to trafficking of heroin and cocaine worth Sh300 million, was out for another plot to regain his freedom.
While in prison, he is said to have planned with his accomplices, to steal three title deeds that would be used to secure his freedom.
Between November last year and January 2019, three title deeds worth Sh61million were stolen from a Malindi court.
A Mr Anthony Chai Baya, who is still being pursued by detectives, is said to have conspired with Malindi court clerks Roba Jarsan Jara and Driscillah Wanjala Mwamburi to have the documents deposited in a Malindi court as securities stolen. They were to be used in a Mombasa court to secure the release of Ahmed.
SECURITY
“The suspect (Mr Baya) and Ahmed planned to have the documents filed as security in Ahmed’s case at the Mombasa court,” said a police source.
The Nation has learnt that the three title deeds had been used to set free businessmen Aweys Ahmed Mohamed, Zein Ahmed Mohamed and James Mwangi Muturi, who had been accused of forging documents to defraud the late Mombasa business tycoon Tahir Sheikh Said (TSS) of Sh28 million.
The two court clerks handed the title deeds to three other accomplices of Ahmed who were to present them in a Mombasa court.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the court clerks and their accomplices stole the titles which they gave to Ahmed’s accomplices- Selemani Bandika, Mohamed Nyamawi, and Makupa Yawa Katungo.
The three were to present the stolen documents as securities in a criminal case facing Ahmed in Mombasa.
ARRESTED
During the verification of the documents, the court discovered that they were already in legal possession of the court. The court clerks were arrested and charged with conspiracy to defeat justice.
The suspects, however, denied the offences before Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Edga Kagoni last week and were released on a Sh500,000 bond each with one surety of a similar amount. Alternatively, they were ordered to pay a cash bail of Sh100,000 each.
The court was told that the three and Mr Baya conspired to commit the offence at Malindi court on diverse dates between November 22, last year and January 30.
The charge sheet reads that the suspects, jointly with others not before the court conspired to defeat justice by purporting to present and execute as security three title deeds in a criminal case against Ahmed, knowing that the land documents had been earlier used as a security in a criminal case before Malindi court.
PENDING CASES
Detectives have since intensified their search for Mr Baya who is said to have several pending cases in various courts. He is said to be behind a syndicate operating in courts. The group uses a single title deed or document to bail out more than one suspect.
Through the State Counsel Ngina Mutua, the DPP said that police are looking for Mr Chai who is believed to have conspired with several others including two court clerks to secure freedom for a suspected drug trafficker using an already used document kept in court.
“Detectives are searching for the suspect and once he is arrested, he will be presented in court to face a charge of conspiracy to defeat justice by presenting as security document already deposited in court,” Ms Mutua told the court.
However, according to Ahmed’s lawyer Jared Magolo, the suspect was in custody between the period which the police say he committed the offence jointly with his accomplices.
