How suspected crime boss was arrested

Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Diwani Athuman 

By Alex Bitekeye and Fred Mukinda The Citizen Reporters

The Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Diwani Athumani, told The Citizen by telephone that the Kenyan national, 46, was extradited to Kenya where he was wanted for crimes relating to massive ivory smuggling, among others.

Dar es Salaam/Nairobi. Mr Feisal Mohamed Ali, the most-wanted organised crime kingpin in the East African region, and who was arrested in Dar es Salaam on Monday night, was deported yesterday to Kenya.

The Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Diwani Athumani, told The Citizen by telephone that the Kenyan national, 46, was extradited to Kenya where he was wanted for crimes relating to massive ivory smuggling, among others.

Mr Athumani said the suspect was in the country illegally, after entry documents he claimed were in Tanga could not be traced.

He was driven to Tanga under tight security and later handed over to the Kenyan security personnel at the Horohoro border.

“We deported him so that he can be charged with other counts in his country,” detailed Mr Athumani.

Yesterday, he was being held by police in Mombasa.

According to Kenyan police, he is the head of a cartel responsible for poaching of elephants across Africa, and trafficking their tusks to global black markets.

He was arrested in a sting operation involving officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations working with their counterparts in Tanzania, under the auspices of Interpol.

The arrest was the culmination of the six-month long undercover trail since he escaped to Tanzania to avoid being charged in court after he was linked to the seizure of 2,152 kilogrammes of ivory at the coastal town in June.

He was arrested on the strength of a warrant granted by the Mombasa court as well as an international “red notice” issued in October by the global police organisation -- Interpol.

Two alleged accomplices, Abdul Halim Sadiq and Ghalib Sadiq Kara, were arrested then, but Ali managed to escape and has been on the run since. The officer in charge of the Interpol bureau in Nairobi, Mr Vitalis Okumu, said fresh charges against the ring leader were being prepared and more would be introduced.

“This is the kind of man we can refer to as a baron. He organises and ensures that the elephants are poached, not only in Kenya, but whole of Africa. There is a network that ensures ivory is trafficked to destinations all over the world,” he said.