How suspected crime boss was arrested

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.

Mr Okumu added: “My officers went to Tanzania accompanied by an informer and once there, they sought the help of their counterparts, of course because of jurisdiction issues.”

According to police, Mr Ali has for more than a decade controlled a vast network but until June, there was no evidence to pin him down since most of his wealth is traced to legitimate businesses.

The investigation has revealed that wealthy businessmen, senior police officers and politicians are part of his network.

After Interpol joined the probe, Mr Ali has been the target of an international hunt.

He was placed top among nine suspected kingpins targeted in what was dubbed Operation Infra (International Fugitive Round Up and Arrest).

The suspects in the cartel are wanted for various crimes including illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, illegal trade and disposal of waste, illegal logging and trading in illicit ivory.

It is the first Interpol fugitive operation targeting individuals wanted for crimes concerning the environment.

Mr Ali is the second of the nine to be arrested after Zambian national Ben Simasiku, who was charged with possessing ivory from Botswana.

Ivory trafficking is a multi-billion dollar illegal business.

The secretive way and brutality by which ivory trafficking thrives inspired an entire episode of popular Television series, the Blacklist, which is being screened in the United States and pirated copies sell like hot cakes in Kenya.

Incidentally, the film producers named the episode the Mombasa Cartel.

The Mombasa Cartel, presents no mere poachers but traffickers who have operated behind a veil of impenetrable secrecy since the 19th century, according to NBC, the TV that broadcast the episodes.

Most of trafficked ivory ends in China and other Asian countries, where it is used as ornaments and believed to be aphrodisiac as well.

Previous investigations have showed that besides being a source of ivory, Kenya is central in trafficking consignments from other countries.

For instance, a consignment of elephant tusks shipped from the port of Mombasa in 2011 and intercepted in Thailand was said to have originated from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The 247 tusks were worth over $3.3 million, and weighed two tonnes were disguised as frozen fish.

Such a huge stock of tusks translates to more than 120 elephants having been killed.