Kenyan Fugitive to be Extradited to the US to Face Drug and Wildlife Trafficking Charges

Kenyan fugitive Badru Aziz Saleh is set to be extradited to the United States to face drug and wildlife trafficking charges.

Saleh, who was arrested on May 30th near the Kenya-Somalia border while trying to flee the country, did not oppose extradition charges when he appeared in a Nairobi court on Monday, according to Nation.

His arrest came five days after Kenya and the US announced a USD$1 million (about Sh116 million) bounty for his arrest, prosecution, and conviction. A similar monetary reward of $1 million was also placed on the head of a second suspect identified as Abdi Hussein Ahmed, who is still at large.

Saleh and Ahmed are said to be part of an international organized criminal network that trafficked wildlife and sought to traffic illicit drugs to the US. The two are accused of conspiring to smuggle at least 190 kilos of rhino horns and 10 tonnes of ivory from different countries in Africa including Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, Senegal, and Tanzania.

“Ahmed has been charged in the United States with wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act and with conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking in violation of the Endangered Species Act and Lacey Act,” the US Department of State said in a statement.

“Ahmed and Saleh have been charged in the US with conspiracy to distribute heroin. Additionally, Ahmed is charged in Uganda and Kenya with violations of the Uganda Wildlife Act, the Kenya Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, and the Kenya East Africa Customs Act.”

Their other accomplices Moazu Kromah, a Liberian national aged 52, 57-year-old Amara Cherif (Guinean) and 62-year-old Mansur Surur (Kenyan) pleaded guilty before a New York court on March 30th, April 27th and June 1st respectively.

Cumulatively, the suspects are said to have conspired to smuggle and sell 190 kilograms of rhino horns and at least 10 tons of elephant ivory valued at $7.4 million (over Sh800 million). Their actions led to the illegal poaching of over 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.