Kenyan pleads guilty to Ivory, drug trafficking in court
A Kenyan man has pleaded guilty to Ivory drug trafficking in a US court. Mansur Mohamed Surur admitted to trafficking ivory and rhino horns worth Sh800,000 million. According to the federal prosecutors in New York, the accused was part of a syndicate that killed at least 100 elephants and 35 rhinos and amassed $7.4m in seven years.
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams said that Surur pleaded guilty to poaching and conspiring to distribute heroin 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, for conspiring to traffic rhinoceros horns
and elephant ivory.
The remaining defendants, Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh “Badro,” and Abdi Hussein Ahmed “Abu Khadi,” both Kenyan citizens, are yet to plea.Based on a US extradition request, Saleh is in custody in Kenya, 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 conviction of the suspect.
Surur was arrested in 2020 in Mombasa and extradited to the US to face trial. He also faced charges of money laundering. 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.
