•Surur also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin to a buyer located in the United States.
•The trade involving endangered species violates several US laws and international treaties implemented by certain US laws.
Image: HANDOUT
A Kenyan man has pleaded guilty in a US court to trafficking ivory and rhino horns worth Sh800,000 million.
Mansur Mohamed Surur was part of an "international conspiracy" responsible for the slaughter of more than 100 elephants and 35 rhinos, federal prosecutors in New York said.
It allegedly amounts to an estimated $7.4m amassed over seven years.
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Wednesday that Surur pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, both endangered wildlife species.
Surur also pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin to a buyer located in the United States.
Two of Surur’s co-defendants, Moazu Kromah, a citizen of Liberia, and Amara Cherif, a citizen of Guinea, pleaded guilty on March 30, 2022, and April 27, 2022, respectively, to conspiring to traffic in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, as well as substantive charges of trafficking in rhinoceros horns.
The remaining defendants, Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh “Badro,” and Abdi Hussein Ahmed “Abu Khadi,” are both Kenyan citizens.
Saleh is in custody in Kenya based on a US extradition request, and Ahmed remains a fugitive.
The US Department of State has offered a reward of up to Sh116 million ($1,000,000) for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the suspect.
According to the documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea taking and other proceedings, the three were members of a transnational criminal enterprise (the “Enterprise”) based in Uganda and surrounding countries that was engaged in the large-scale trafficking and smuggling of rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory.
The trade involving endangered species violates several US laws and international treaties implemented by certain US laws.
From at least between December 2012 and May 2019, the three and others conspired to transport, distribute, sell, and smuggle at least approximately 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horns and at least approximately 10 tons of elephant ivory from or involving various countries in East Africa.
The countries include; Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, and Tanzania, to buyers located in the United States and countries in Southeast Asia.
The defendants are said to have exported and agreed to export rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory for delivery to foreign buyers, including certain to a buyer represented to be in Manhattan, in packaging that concealed the horns in, among other things, pieces of art such as African masks and statues.
The defendants received and deposited payments from foreign customers that were sent in the form of international wire transfers, some of which were sent through US financial institutions, and paid in cash.
According to the prosecutors, on or about March 16, 2018, law enforcement agents intercepted a package containing a black rhinoceros horn sold by the defendants that was intended for a buyer represented to be in Manhattan.
From in or about March 2018 through in or about May 2018, the defendants offered to sell additional rhinoceros horns of varying weights, including horns weighing up to approximately seven kilograms.
On or about July 17, 2018, law enforcement agents intercepted a package containing two rhinoceros horns sold by the defendants that were intended for a buyer represented to be in Manhattan.
Separately, from at least in or about August 2018 through at least in or about May 2019, Surur allegedly conspired with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a large quantity of heroin to a buyer in New York.
Kromah previously was expelled to the United States from Uganda, while Sherif and Surur were extradited from Senegal and Kenya, respectively.
The defendants have been detained since their arrest and arrival in the USA.
Surur was arrested in 2020 in Mombasa and extradited to the US to face trial in New York.
He also faced charges of money laundering and dealing drugs.
Kromah, 52, Cherif, 57, and Surur, 62, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
In addition, Kromah and Cherif both pleaded to two counts of wildlife trafficking, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Surur also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.