Suspected
organised crime boss Feisal Ali Mohammed is arrested following publication of
Interpol most-wanted list
Feisal Mohamed Ali, bottom-right, has been arrested in Tanzania following an Interpol most-wanted list. Photograph: Interpol |
A suspected
organised crime boss alleged to be a leading figure in the illegal ivory trade
has been arrested by Interpol agents in Tanzania, officials said on Tuesday.
The international
police organisation last month put Kenyan national Feisal Ali Mohammed on a list of nine most-wanted suspects linked to crimes against the environment.
“Feisal Ali
Mohammed was arrested by Interpol officers in Dar es Salaam. He was then booked
in Musimbasi police station at 10:42pm last night,” Kenya’s director of public
prosecutions said in a statement.
It said he
is facing charges in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa for “dealing and possession
of elephant tusks” weighing more than two tonnes and equivalent to at least 114
poached elephants, which were found during a raid in June.
Herd of elephants in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Photograph: Ingvild Holm/Environmental Investigation Agency |
Two alleged
accomplices, Abdul Halim Sadiq and Ghalib Sadiq Kara, were arrested then, but
Mohammed managed to escape and has been on the run since. According to an
Interpol source, Mohammed was caught in “a string operation” conducted in
conjunction with Tanzanian police.
He is the
second of the nine alleged “environmental criminals” listed by Interpol to have
been arrested since the Interpol appeal last month. Earlier this month, Zambian
national Ben Simasiku was arrested on charges of possessing ivory from Botswana.
In
November, Interpol said the arrest of the suspects would “contribute to the
dismantlement of transnational organised crime groups who have turned
environmental exploitation into a professional business with lucrative
revenues.”
Ivory is
sought out for jewellery and decorative objects and much of it is smuggled to
China, where many increasingly wealthy shoppers are buying ivory trinkets as a
sign of financial success.
A sharp
rise in poaching in Kenya, which is home to an estimated 30,000 elephants and
just over a thousand rhinos, has sparked warnings from conservation groups that
the government is losing the fight against the slaughter.
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