Kenya: Wildlife trafficking suspect seized after $1m reward

Kenyan police have arrested a man suspected of links to a transnational wildlife and drug trafficking syndicate who was indicted in a US court.

Abdi Hussein Ahmed, alias Abu Khadi, was detained on Tuesday in the central county of Meru after a tip-off from the public, police say.

The US had offered a $1m (£0.8m) reward for information leading to his arrest.

In 2019, Mr Ahmed was charged in a New York court with conspiracy to traffic rhinoceros horn and ivory.

He was also charged with conspiracy to traffic a kilo of cocaine.

Three other men were indicted along with him: Moazu Kromah, aka Ayoub; Amara Cherif, aka Bamba Issiaka; and Mansur Mohamed Surur, aka Mansour.

They had reportedly conspired to smuggle horn and ivory with a value of $7m from Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania.

On 26 May, US and Kenyan officials made a joint public appeal for information that could lead to the arrest of Mr Ahmed. The US offered rewards of $1m each for Mr Ahmed and another trafficking suspect, Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh.

According to the US state department, the two men were also charged in the US with conspiracy to distribute heroin.

Mr Saleh was arrested a week later.

The two arrests pointed "to the longstanding partnership that the directorate [had] had with the United States in combating transnational organised crimes", Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations said.

Demand for rhino horn has been blamed for driving poaching and threatening the survival of the species.

It is claimed as an aphrodisiac in traditional Chinese medicine - which has sustained demand despite official attempts to prevent the trade.