by CAROLYNE KUBWA
Court Reporter
Friday September 2, 2022
EXTRADITION: Milimani law courts. Image: FILE
A Nairobi court on Thursday ordered the state to extradite a second businessman wanted by the US government over drug trafficking claims.
Chief magistrate Roseline Oganyo sitting at City Hall court issued an extradition order for Abdi Hussein Ahmed.
This followed an application by Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji to surrender fugitive Abdi Hussein Ahmed to USA authority.
"Upon hearing the application on behalf of the office of the DPP in the presence of the respondent, I hereby issue an order for extradition and surrender of the respondent Abdi Hussein Ahmed alias Abu Khadi from the Republic of Kenya to the United States of America," the magistrate said.
In the application, senior assistant DPP Catherine Mwaniki told the court that the fugitive, Ahmed who is wanted by the USA was arrested in Meru.
This she says was upon receiving a request from US government to have him extradited to the same government, to face charges of transnational crime.
Mwaniki, who is on transfer to head the office of DPP in Nyanza, told the court that Ahmed was arrested in an early morning raid in Maua, Meru where he was staying in a rented room.
"His accomplice Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh was in May this year arrested as he tried to flee to Somalia. He was brought to Nairobi before he was extradited to the USA," she said.
According to her appointment letter as seen by the media, Mwaniki is expected to report to her new station on Thursday, September 1, after handing over to the incoming head of International Cooperation Division.
"You will coordinate and supervise administrative as well as prosecution services in the Nyanza region, in the counties of Kisumu, Migori, Kisii, Nyamira, Siaya and Homa Bay," Haji said in the letter dated August 3.Prior to her transfer, Mwaniki was handling high profile cases, among them murder and extraditions.
So far, the DPP and DCI have succeeded in extraditing three co-conspirators, believed to be the largest ivory and narcotics traffickers.
The USA on April 26 offered up to two million dollars (Sh233 million) for both suspects.
Ahmed and Saleh are accused of being part of an international organised criminal network that trafficked wildlife and sought to traffic illicit drugs to the United States.
They are accused of conspiring to smuggle at least 190 kilograms of rhino horns and 10 tonnes of ivory.
It is believed that the rhino horns and ivory were valued at seven million dollars (Sh800 million).
The US government indicated in the request that the two are major violators of US narcotics and wildlife trafficking laws.
They are wanted for their alleged involvement in an international organised criminal network that trafficked wildlife from Africa and sought to traffic illicit drugs to the United States.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)