Informant to pocket Sh120m after arrest of wanted suspect
Informant to pocket Sh120m after arrest of wanted suspect
Cyrus Ombati, The Star
August 3, 2022
An informant is set to pocket a staggering Sh120 million following a tip
that led to the arrest of a second man wanted by the US government over
drug trafficking claims.
Abdi Hussein Ahmed was Tuesday brought to Nairobi ahead of planned
processing and extradition to the US, police aware of the developments said.
He was arrested in an early morning raid in Maua, Meru County, where he was
staying in a rented room.
This is after detectives received information on his whereabouts.
Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti said the developments
came after detectives received information on his whereabouts through the
#FichuakwaDCI anonymous hotline, 0800 722 203.
The detectives from the Serious Crimes Unit drove to Meru where they found
the suspect in a room he had been for weeks now and ordered him out.
He did not resist, an official said. He was later taken to the DCI
headquarters for processing.
His accomplice Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh was in May this year arrested as he
tried to flee to Somalia and was brought to Nairobi. He was later
extradited to the USA.
The two had a $2 million (Sh240 million) bounty on their heads for
trafficking wildlife and narcotics to the USA.
No details were available on who tipped the officials about the whereabouts
of both suspects now and if the ransom would be paid out.
But an informed officer said: “The bounty that was given out was real and
whoever was responsible for his arrest will definitely get the money. For
safety reasons, we can’t discuss that further.”
Aziz and Ahmed are accused of being part of an international organised
criminal network that trafficked wildlife and sought to traffic illicit
drugs to the United States.
They are accused of conspiring to smuggle at least 190 kilograms of rhino
horns and 10 tonnes of ivory.
Then acting US ambassador to Kenya Eric Kneedler said the rhino horns and
ivory were valued at $7 million (Sh840m).
He said the two are major violators of US narcotics and wildlife
trafficking laws and are wanted for their alleged involvement in an
international organized criminal network that trafficked wildlife from
Africa and sought to traffic illicit drugs to the United States.
The indictment against the two further alleges a conspiracy to distribute
approximately 10 kilograms of heroin.
Kinoti said then the two with Mansur Mohamed Sahul who was arrested on
several occasions between December 2012 and May 2019 are wanted for the
crimes.
He added the suspects were involved in the transportation, distribution and
smuggling of 190 kilos of rhinoceros horns, and 10 tones of elephant ivory
from different countries in Africa, including Kenya, which they transported
to the US.
Kinoti said the suspects also transported and distributed one kilogram of
heroin from Kenya to the US.
"On June 14, 2019, the United States Southern District Court of New York
indicted the three individuals. Interpol issued a red notice in respect to
the said suspects, Sahul Mansur Mohamed and Ahmed Abdi Hussein, while a
warrant of arrest was issued in respect to Saleh Badul."
Kinoti said Saleh was later arrested at the Busia border by DCI detectives
on June 11, 2019, and arraigned at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
law courts, before he was released on Sh200,000 cash bail.
He added the suspect was directed to report to detectives every two weeks.
"However, upon release on bail, he disappeared up to December 2019 when he
was last seen," Kinoti said.
Mansur pleaded guilty to charges in court. He was part of an "international
conspiracy" responsible for the slaughter of more than 100 elephants and
dozens of rhinos, federal prosecutors in New York said.
It allegedly amounts to an estimated $7.4m amassed over seven years.
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of
New York, announced in May he pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in
rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, both endangered wildlife species,
which involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35
rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.
He also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin to a buyer
located in the United States.
Two of Mansur’s co-defendants, Moazu Kromah, a citizen of Liberia, and
Amara Cherif, a citizen of Guinea, previously pleaded guilty on March 30,
2022, and April 27, 2022, respectively to conspiring to traffic in
rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, as well as substantive charges of
trafficking in rhinoceros horns.