By Alex Bitekeye and Agencies
In Summary
- According to police, Mr Mohammed is the leader of an international poaching syndicate in the region, and is linked with the seizure of 228 tusks and 74 ivory pieces weighing over two tonnes at a motor vehicle warehouse in Tudor, Mombasa, in June, last year.
Police confirmed yesterday the arrest of the suspected mastermind behind ivory trafficking across the East African region.
The Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Diwani Athumani, told The Citizen by telephone that Kenyan national Feisal Ali Mohammed, 46, was arrested in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam, on Monday night.
“The suspect is in police custody and is being
questioned,” he said. “We are checking to see whether he has links with
inter-regional organized crime and if he entered Tanzania legally.”
The head of Interpol in Tanzania, Mr Gustavu
Babile, said the suspect was caught after Interpol and Tanzania police
force joined forces following a tip-off.
Mr Babile said Mr Mohammed was tracked down to
Tanzania following a warrant of arrest issued against him in October,
this year, adding that the agency had posted his picture and details on
its website.
According to police, Mr Mohammed is the leader of
an international poaching syndicate in the region, and is linked with
the seizure of 228 tusks and 74 ivory pieces weighing over two tonnes at
a motor vehicle warehouse in Tudor, Mombasa, in June, last year.
Interpol last month put Mr Mohammed on a list of
nine most wanted suspects linked to crimes against the environment. His
arrest was also confirmed by Kenyan authorities.
“Feisal Ali Mohammed was arrested by Interpol
officers in Dar es Salaam. He was then booked in Msimbazi Police Station
at 10.42pm last night,” Kenya’s director of public prosecutions said in
a statement.
It said he is facing charges in Kenya’s port city
of Mombasa for “dealing in and possession of elephant tusks” weighing
more than two tonnes and equivalent to at least 114 poached elephants,
which were found during a raid in June. Two alleged accomplices, Abdul
Halim Sadiq and Ghalib Sadiq Kara, were arrested then, but Mohammed
managed to escape and has been on the run since.
According to an Interpol source, Mr Mohammed was
caught in “a string operation” conducted in collaboration with Tanzanian
police.
He is the second of the nine alleged
“environmental criminals” listed by Interpol to have been arrested since
the Interpol appeal last month. Earlier this month, Zambian national
Ben Simasiku was arrested on charges of possessing ivory from Botswana.
In November, Interpol said the arrest of the
suspects would “contribute to the dismantling of transnational organised
crime groups which have turned environmental exploitation into a
professional business with lucrative revenues.” Ivory is sought after
for jewellery and decorative objects and much of it is smuggled to
China, where many increasingly wealthy shoppers are buying ivory
trinkets as a sign of financial success.
A sharp rise in poaching in Kenya, which is home
to an estimated 30,000 elephants and just over a thousand rhinos, has
sparked warnings from conservation groups that the government is losing
the fight against the slaughter.
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