Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha, the Kenyan brothers extradited to the US in January last year to face drug trafficking charges, have now been accused of bribing Kenyan officials and brandishing guns while carrying out their alleged crimes.

The new charges are contained in a “superseding indictment” filed last month by US prosecutors and cited during the defendants' appearance in a US federal court on Friday.

The Akasha brothers and a co-defendant, Pakistani national Gulam Hussein, pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

The three men were brought into the New York courtroom in shackles and wearing prison garb.

Plea deal

US prosecutor Amanda Houle told presiding judge Victor Marrero that discussions concerning a possible plea deal “are over”, implying that the accused will likely not to get a reduction of a prison sentence in return for guilty pleas and promises to cooperate with investigators.

Judge Marrero set October 8 as the tentative trial date. Ms Houle estimated the trial would run for about three weeks.

Indian national Vijaygiri Goswami, who had been charged along with the accused, was not present for the 40-minute court session on Friday, apparently because he has agreed to assist US prosecutors in the case.

Christopher Cassar, an attorney representing Baktash Akasha, told judge Marrero that Mr Goswami is “cooperating with the [US] government.”

But Ms Houle said later that the US “is not going to confirm or deny anything about anyone cooperating in this case.”

Extradition

Mr Cassar also complained that the Kenyan government was yet to hand over documents supporting that it had "expelled" the Akashas from the country in January 2017.

In an interview following Friday's proceedings, Mr Cassar said his client was taken from Nairobi to New York ahead of a scheduled extradition hearing in Kenya.

The Akashas, Mr Hussein and Mr Goswami were flown out of Kenya at the same time.

READ: Kenya extradites four men to US on suspicion of heroin smuggling

All four were arrested in Mombasa in November 2014 in a sting operation involving undercover US drug agents.

US prosecutors charged that the four alleged leaders of the so-called Akasha Organisation had conspired to ship 98 kilogrammes of heroin to the US from Kenya.

READ: Kenya drug bust exposes heroin route

Mr Cassar told Nation that his client's due-process rights had been violated under the terms of a US-Kenya extradition treaty.

He said he will argue in court in the coming months that Baktash Akasha had been “abducted” from Kenya.

US courts thus have no jurisdiction in the case, the lawyer argued, adding that he will ask that Mr Akasha, a Kenyan citizen, be returned to Kenya.

“I don't believe you can expel a citizen from his country,” Mr Cassar said in the interview.

Judge Marrero will likely rule on that motion in April or May, Mr Cassar said.

Bribes

In the superseding indictment filed last month, US prosecutors charged that Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha “agreed to pay bribes, and caused others to pay bribes to officials, including law enforcement officers, judges and at least one prosecutor in Kenya, in an effort to avoid extradition to the United States.”

The indictment does not name any of the officials whom the Akashas sought to bribe.

“During and in relation to [alleged] drug-trafficking crimes,” the new indictment also charges, the Akashas “did use and carry firearms, which were brandished.”

Mr Hussein, who is said to use the alias “Old Man,” appeared tired and drawn during Friday's hearing as he listened to a translation by an Urdu interpreter.

He requires daily insulin injections for a diabetes condition.

The two Akasha brothers seemed to be in good health. They have been in the New York detention facilities for a year.

Another court session on the status of the case has been set for February 23.