DCI arrests Abdi Hussein Ahmed who is wanted in US for wildlife and drug trafficking

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has announced the arrest of Abdi Hussein Ahmed alias Abu Khadi, a suspect wanted in the United States, for wildlife and drug trafficking.

The US government had issued a $1 million (Sh119 million at current prevailing rates) reward for his capture.

The suspect was arrested in an early morning raid in Maua, Meru County, where he was staying in a rented room.

Maua Town in Meru County Pulse Live Kenya

Detectives received an anonymous tip that the fugitive had been hiding in the area.

Ahmed was the last of two fugitives who were hiding in Kenya after another suspect Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh was arrested earlier this year.

Ahmed is wanted in the US after he was charged in an indictment alongside Moazu Kromah, aka 'Ayoub/Ayuba/Kampala Man'; Amara Cherif, aka 'Bamba Issiaka'; and Mansur Mohamed Surur, aka 'Mansour' for participating in a conspiracy to traffic in Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory, both protected wildlife species, valued at more than $7 million (Sh833 million at current prevailing rates).

This involved the illegal poaching of more than 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.

Following a joint investigation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Ahmed and his co-conspirators were charged by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogramme or more of heroin.

The offence carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh extradited to the US

According to a statement by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, 46-year-old Abdul was extradited to the US in June 2022.

According to a US federal indictment, in or about August 2018 through about May 2019, Saleh and others who were identified during a wildlife trafficking investigation conspired to distribute at least 10kgs of heroin to a buyer in New York.

Wanted drug trafficking suspect Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh extradited to US Pulse Live Kenya

After several meetings, Saleh and his co-conspirators delivered the first kilogram of heroin to a buyer in Nairobi.

Saleh fled from law enforcement, along with his co-conspirators, before completing the remaining heroin transaction.

He was then arrested by DCI detectives for drug trafficking in Kenya on July 11, 2019, and arraigned at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Law Courts, a day after.

After being granted an Sh200,000 bail, he went into hiding and a warrant of arrest was issued against him.