Suspected drug baron Bilal Ndechumia Kimali who was deported from Madagascar yesterday denied trafficking heroin worth million of shillings.
He was accused of trafficking 2,028g heroin worth Sh6 million in a car and a luxury boat.
Kimali allegedly committed the crime on April 9, 2015, at Kilifi boat yard where the heroin was concealed in a black suitcase.
He also denied that on April 20, 2015, at Kilindini Port in Mombasa county, he trafficked 7.6kg drugs worth Sh22 million.
It is alleged that the drugs were concealed at the bottom of a water tank of a luxury boat.
The 42-foot vessel, Baby Iris, was destroyed by KDF 20 miles off the Coast in a military disposal zone in 2015 under the supervision of Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery.
State prosecutor Daniel Wamotsa urged the court to deny Kimali bond as he was a flight risk who with his previous record was likely to jump bail.
He said the accused has been on the run in Madagascar for two years after escaping
arrest.
Wamotsa said investigations show that Kimali was the owner of the yacht that had the drugs.
Senior principal magistrate Henry Kawabata will give his ruling on Thursday.
Kimali's prosecution brings to six the number of people linked with the seizure of the yacht during an operation in 2015.
Five people, including a British tycoon, had already been charged.
The five, including the vessel’s pilot Clement Serge of Seychelles (a British tycoon) and four Kenyans — Ahmed Said, Mohammed Bakari, Sharrif Mzee and Ahmed Hussein — were charged with trafficking drugs in April 2015.
Kimali was deported back to Kenya early this month from Madagascar where he is said to have been hiding since escaping a police dragnet.
His arrest came after US anti-narcotic detectives traced him for two years.