Nairobi — The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) says the second suspected wildlife and drug trafficker wanted in the United States has been extradited following his arrest in Meru County on Tuesday.
Abdi Hussein Ahmed, alias Abu Khadi, who had $1 million bounty on his head was apprehended at a rental room in Maua, Meru County, following a tip-off from area residents.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Roseline Aganyo ordered the extradition charging Ahmed for participating in a conspiracy to traffic in Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory, both protected wildlife species valued at more than US$7 million.
The group is said to have smuggled, between December 2012 through May 2019, approximately 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horns and at least 10 tons of elephant ivory from various countries to buyers in the U.S. and countries in Southeast Asia.
They operated in Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, Senegal, and Tanzania.
"Their indictment followed a joint investigation of 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," said DCI in a statement.
