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Rhinoceros costumes6/13/2023 ![]() financial institutions, and paid in cash. 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 U.S. Typically, the defendants exported and agreed to export the rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory for delivery to foreign buyers, including a buyer represented to be in Manhattan, in packaging that concealed the rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory in, among other things, pieces of art such as African masks and statues. In total, the estimated average retail value of the rhinoceros horns involved in the conspiracy was at least approximately $3.4 million, and the estimated average retail value of the elephant ivory involved in the conspiracy was at least approximately $4 million. Such weights of rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory are estimated to have involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 rhinoceros and more than approximately 100 elephants. ![]() laws.įrom at least in or about December 2012 through at least in or about May 2019, KROMAH, CHERIF, SURUR, and AHMED 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, including 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. laws, as well as international treaties implemented by certain U.S. Trade involving endangered or threatened species violates several U.S. KROMAH, CHERIF, SURUR, and AHMED 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, both protected wildlife species. And the substantial sentences received by these defendants show the resolve of this Office to use every tool at our disposal to ensure the protection of endangered species and the safety of our communities.”Īccording to the charging and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made in court proceedings: ![]() This case demonstrates the crossover between cases involving wildlife trafficking and other kinds of transnational crime. Moazu Kromah, Amara Cherif, Mansur Mohamed Surur, Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh, and Abdi Hussein Ahmed chose profit over compliance with various United States and international laws that prohibit both of these crimes. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Wildlife trafficking is a serious threat to the natural resources and the ecological heritage shared by communities across the globe, and heroin trafficking poses deadly risks to countless individuals. Specifically, MOAZU KROMAH, a/k/a “Ayoub,” a/k/a “Ayuba,” a/k/a “Kampala Man,” a citizen of Liberia, was sentenced to a prison term of 63 months AMARA CHERIF, a/k/a “Bamba Issiaka,” a citizen of Guinea, was sentenced to a prison term of 57 months MANSUR MOHAMED SURUR, a/k/a “Mansour,” a citizen of Kenya, was sentenced to a prison term of 54 months and BADRU ABDUL AZIZ SALEH, a/k/a “Badro,” a citizen of Kenya, was sentenced to a prison term of 42 months. AHMED’s co-conspirators were previously sentenced to substantial prison terms by Judge Woods. Woods.ĪHMED is the fifth and final member of these conspiracies to be sentenced in a case prosecuted over the course of several years, and which has involved the extradition of multiple individuals from several countries in Africa. ![]() The sentence was imposed earlier today by U.S. ![]() Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ABDI HUSSEIN AHMED, a citizen of Kenya, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for conspiring to traffic large quantities of rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory - both protected wildlife species - worth millions of dollars that involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants, as well as for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin. ![]()
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