Pakistani drug ‘sultan’ faces extradition to US

 

LONDON: A suspected Pakistani drug-smuggler — alleged to have been heading an international drug ring — faces extradition to the United States.

Muhammad Asif Hafeez, a drug kingpin known as 'the Sultan' among associates, was arrested from an address in north London on Friday, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said, adding that he faces extradition to the US, where he is wanted for conspiring to import Class A contraband.

Hafeez, a 58-year-old Pakistani national, is accused of leading an organisation — spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America — that produces and smuggles drugs including heroin, methamphetamine (or crystal meth), and ephedrine.

The NCA said it worked with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to investigate Hafeez after he was identified as the source of large quantities of heroin being smuggled from Pakistan and Afghanistan into Kenya.

“This is a hugely significant arrest of a man suspected of being the head of a global drug production and distribution network with links across Asia, Europe, and North America," Martin Huxley — a representative of the NCA — said.

The suspect is said to have been supplying a family-based narcotics syndicate in Mombasa with what he boasted was “diamond carat [quality]” heroin.

The said family had been smuggling drugs into and out of Kenya for decades, according to the US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.

The members of the Kenyan gang were said to have been recorded agreeing to a transaction to sell 99 kilogrammes of the Sultan’s heroin to a group of men they thought were South American drug dealers looking to smuggle it into the US, but who were, in fact, working for the DEA.

Another raid related to Hafeez’s alleged narcotics trafficking involved the recovery of 18 tonnes of ephedrine in India. The NCA said the allegations he faced included coming to an understanding to smuggle narcotics into the US since at least 2013.

Hafeez reportedly owns properties in London, Pakistan, Dubai, and some locations in Europe. He appeared at the Westminster Magistrates court Friday afternoon as extradition proceedings to the US started.

Hashim Chaudri — the prosecutor — said Hafeez could face life imprisonment in the US for supplying drugs.

On behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, Chaudri opposed bail, stating that Hafeez, alongside a large amount of wealth, had “significant contacts and assets throughout the world”.

Russell Nicholson — the defendant — said his client was a businessman and trader who was the victim of a mistaken identity. He said there was no reason for Hafeez to evade legal process given that he was a respectable man.

The defendant added Hafeez had no previous convictions in “any jurisdiction in the world” and could offer a £100,000 security if granted bail.

District Judge Rebecca Crane, however, refused bail.

Considering “the scale of the criminality alleged here, this is an international investigation and the NCA has worked extremely closely with our partners in the US and UK", Huxley explained.

According to the NCA representative, organised crime groups of this level "fuel violence and exploitation at every step, from the locations overseas where drugs are farmed and produced right through to the dealers on UK street corners”.