Fugitive wanted in US over drugs arrested in Mombasa
Detectives in Mombasa have arrested a Kenyan citizen who is wanted in the United States on drugs-related offences.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Coast boss, Washington Njiru, said the suspect, Abubakar Mansur Mohamed Surur, 60, was yesterday intercepted at the Moi International Airport Mombasa at 1.00am upon arrival from Yemen aboard Skyward Express chartered aircraft flight.
Mansur Mohamed has been wanted in the US over alleged involvement in narcotics and contraband ivory trade related offences worth over Sh700 million.
A statement by police indicated that Surur was arrested at the Arrival Terminal of the airport after landing from Yemen aboard Skyward Express chartered aircraft flight No DHC8 at 1am and was subsequently handed over to Interpol for interrogation.
According to police, Surur is said to have been on the wanted list for participating in a conspiracy to traffic in Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory, both protected wildlife species, valued at more than Sh700 million ($7 million) that involved the illegal poaching of more than 35 Rhinoceros and more than 100 Elephants.
He has been on the run for 12 years after evading arrest at his Kwale home and managed to sneak out of the country to Tanzania before he travelled to Democratic Republic of Congo DRC and Yemen in 2006.
The fugitive was among 47 Kenyans who had been stranded in Yemen and were jetted back aboard a Chartered Skyward Express flight early Wednesday morning.
In 2004, Surur and two others: Francis Goya and Hamisi Kazungu were charged at the Mombasa Law Courts with money laundering and participating in a conspiracy to distribute more than 10 kilogrammes of heroin. Surur, however, absconded court after he was released on bond.
According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Surur, alongside Abdi Hussein Ahmed aka “Abu Khadi” and Fatuma Hedi, who are still holed up in Yemen are fugitives being sought in relation to drug and ivory trafficking offences.
Other fugitives
Detectives have described Surur and other fugitives sill at large as members of a trans-national criminal enterprise based in Uganda, Tanzania and some West African countries vulnerable in the large-scale trafficking and smuggling of rhino horns and elephant tusks.
The suspects are accused of smuggling and trafficking ivory in 2012 to May 2019, over 190 kilogrammes of rhino horns and 10 tons of elephant ivory from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania, to buyers located in America and countries in South East Asia.
“The three have been on the Interpol radar since 2012, when they began smuggling ivory. Interpol officers in Manhattan, USA posed as buyers, after depositing payments through US financial institutions for the consignment of elephant and rhinoceros horns, which were delivered and concealed as African masks and statues,” said Njiru.
The DEA further established that between August 2018 and May 2019, Surur and Ahmed conspired to distribute 10 kilograms of heroin to a buyer said to be located in New York.
