NEW YORK/LONDON: A United States federal judge has sentenced Pakistani national Muhammad Asif Hafeez — once dubbed the “Sultan of Durgs” — to 16 years in prison on two counts of drug trafficking charges in a dramatic culmination to a high-profile international case spanning nearly a decade.
The sentencing hearing, presided over by Judge Victor Marrero at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, brought closure to a legal saga that began with Lahore-born Hafeez’s arrest in London in August 2017 at his apartment in London and his eventual extradition to the US in around three years ago.
Appearing before the court alongside his attorney Steve Zissou, with an Urdu interpreter present, Hafeez was handed a sentence of 192 months (16 years) on each of the two counts to run concurrently — followed by five years of supervised release.
The court clarified that Hafeez’s prison term would be retroactively calculated from the date of his initial arrest on August 25, 2017, meaning he has already served nearly eight years in custody. Hafeez, 66, has been in custody since 2017 and his sentence will end in 2033.
Assistant United States US Attorney Jane Chong represented the prosecution, pressing for a sentence that reflects what she termed “the scale and global nature” of Hafeez’s drug trafficking operation. The defence, however, argued for leniency, citing Hafeez’s age, health, and the extended period he has already spent in detention both in the UK and the US.
The court acknowledged both sides before issuing the sentence and confirmed that the remaining open counts were dismissed upon a motion from the prosecution.
In addition to the prison term, the court ordered forfeiture of assets linked to Hafeez’s alleged drug trafficking proceeds. While the specific amount was not disclosed during the hearing, the judge confirmed that the government would submit a proposed order detailing the forfeiture figure, and waived interest on the amount.
Despite Hafeez being a Pakistani citizen, Islamabad never commented, lobbied, or got involved. His legal team says that’s been one of the biggest letdowns of the case. His family tried their best for the Pakistani government to get involved but the govt offered no help.
Hafeez’s sentencing came a few days after the same judge ruled that the US govt didn’t breach its plea bargain agreement with the Pakistani former gold trader in the high-profile drugs case in which he and four others are implicated including Bollywood star Mamta Kulkarni’s husband Vicky Goswami.
Hafeez had filed a petition at the New York Southern District court arguing that the US government was breaching the plea agreement terms with him; that he should be given only about 10 years jail term and that the government’s proposed at least 276 months’ imprisonment — around 23 years — would be a breach and therefore the court should rule against the government.
But Judge Victor Marrero of the court has ruled that “the Court finds that the Government did not breach the Plea Agreement, and, accordingly, orders the Defendant to adhere to the Plea Agreement’s stipulated offence level and sentencing range under the US Sentencing Guidelines” and that advocating for a sentence of at least 276 months imprisonment for Hafeez would be proportionate to the offence level and category.
On November 18, 2024, Hafeez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and unlawfully import heroin into the United States and one count of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and unlawfully import methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States.
His lawyers said he had no choice under the harsh US conditions but to plead guilty. According to the allegations contained in indictments charging Hafeez, from 2013 through the date of his London arrest in 2017, conspired with his co-defendants, Baktash Akasha Abdalla, Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla, Gulam Hussein, and Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami — Vicky Goswami — to import heroin into the US.
