DCI Arrest Man Wanted In US With Ksh119M Bounty

Detectives drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Serious Crimes unit on Tuesday, August 2 arrested Abdi Hussein Ahmed alias Abu Khadi, a suspect wanted in the United States, for wildlife and drug trafficking. 

Ahmed is wanted in the U.S after he was charged in an indictment alongside Moazu Kromah, aka “Ayoub,” aka “Ayuba,” aka “Kampala Man;” Amara Cherif, aka “Bamba Issiaka;” and Mansur Mohamed Surur, aka “Mansour,”

The three were found to be participating in a conspiracy to traffic in Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory, both protected wildlife species, valued at more than Ksh832.3 million (US$7 million). This involved the illegal poaching of more than 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.

A wanted poster of Abdi Hussein Ahmed wanted in the US for drug trafficking. /DCI

Their indictment followed a joint investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), where a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York, charged Ahmed and his other co-conspirators with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. 

The suspect 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 through an anonymous tip from members of the public and moved with speed to arrest the suspect. 

Ahmed’s arrest follows the arrest of his accomplice Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh, alias “Badro” on May 31, one week after a reward of Ksh118.9 million (US$ 1 million) was announced by the U.S. Department of State, through the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP) for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction, for participating in transnational organized crime, that is narcotics trafficking.

In a joint briefing by the outgoing United States ambassador H.E Eric W. Kneedler and the DCI Director General George Kinoti, on May 26, 2022, the two had called upon anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Ahmed and his accomplice Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh who were on INTERPOL’s Red Notice, to volunteer it to authorities. 

According to the indictment in a case currently being handled by U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods, Kromah, 49, Cherif, 54, Surur, 59, and Ahmed, 56, were members of a transnational criminal enterprise based in Uganda and surrounding countries that was engaged in the large-scale trafficking and smuggling of rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, both protected wildlife species.

From December 2012 through May 2019, Ahmed and his co-conspirators conspired to transport, distribute, sell and smuggle at least approximately 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horns and at least 10 tons of elephant ivory from various countries in East Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania, to buyers located in the United States and countries in Southeast Asia. 

The arrest of the two international fugitives barely two months after the joint briefing by Kneedler and Kinoti points to the longstanding partnership that the DCI has had with the United States, in combating trans-national organized crimes in the world.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.

Assistant United States Attorneys Sagar K. Ravi and Jarrod L. Schaeffer are in charge of the prosecution.

DCI boss, George Kinoti. /FILE