Kenyan Abdi Hussein Ahmed, alias Abu Khadi, 59, was extradited to the United States on Saturday (September 3), according to Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations. Abu Khadi is accused of being involved in transnational wildlife and drug trafficking.
This is a case that goes beyond Kenyan borders. According to Kenya’s Criminal Investigations Directorate, Abu Khadi and his accomplices are involved in a plot to acquire and then sell at least 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horn and 10 tons of elephant horn ivory, two protected species, for worth more than $7 million.
The traffic covers the period from 2012-2019 and involves the illegal poaching of more than 35 rhinos and 100 elephants, in different countries in the region: Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania. Kenya’s Criminal Investigations Directorate says the buyers were in the United States and several Southeast Asian countries.
Arrested in the center of the country
Abu Khadi’s arrest dates back to August 3 during an early morning raid in Maua, Meru County, central Kenya. The suspect was located thanks to an anonymous telephone line, opened by this same Criminal Investigation Department. The US State Department says the suspect had been on the run since June 2019. Washington was promising up to $1 million to anyone who would find or convict Abu Khadi.
►Also read: DRC: record seizure of one and a half tons of contraband ivory in Lubumbashi