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The United States government has placed a Sh233 million bounty on the heads of two Kenyans suspected of trafficking in wildlife products and drugs.

The US acting Ambassador to Kenya Eric Kneedler and DCI boss George Kinoti yesterday said Abdi Hussein And Badru Abdulaziz Saleh had conspired to smuggle 190kg of rhino horns and 10 tons of elephant ivory, from different countries in Africa, valued at Sh700 million.

The two, wanted by the US Fish and Wildlife and the Drug Enforcement Administration, had also planned to distribute 10kg of heroin.

“The two fugitives are major violators of US narcotics and wildlife trafficking laws and 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 US,” the US Ambassador said.

Saleh was arrested in Kenya at the Busia border and was transferred to Nairobi before he was arraigned at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) law courts. However, upon his release on a bail, he absconded from court in December 2019.

Kinoti revealed that prior to the arrest of Saleh in June 2019, the US Drug Enforcement Administration had joined forces with the DCI Anti-Narcotic Sensitive Investigative Unit, in an undercover operation in December 2018 aimed at gathering evidence on the trio.

State agencies

“The operation was successful and followed by another coordinated operation by the same agencies in February 2019. However, Ahmed and Saleh have been on the run and they remain wanted fugitives,” added Kinoti.

He said his office will work closely with the US agencies in arresting the two suspects by also collaborating with members of the public and the actors in the criminal justice system.