KENYA: The famous ivory kingpin, Feisal Mohammed Ali has not been granted bail by Kenya Court over ivory trafficking charges.
Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Justus Kituku said Ali who was arrested late last year in Tanzania by Interpol was running away from justice since he knew the charges he was facing in Kenya. Kituku said the prosecution has compelling reasons to indicate Ali chose to leave in Tanzania where he was arrested by Interpol to avoid facing the criminal proceeding.
Kituku has set the hearing of the case on Jan. 20 and 21. He will be remanded in prison waiting determination of his case.
“On the basis on that evidence and admission that actually the accused person was aware that they were criminal proceeding which were going on in Kenya and he chose to live in Tanzania, shows that he was trying to avoid justice,” the magistrate said.
“I found that they are convincing reasons why the accused person should be denied bond,” he ruled.
He faces charges of illegal dealing and possession of elephant ivory weighing more than two tones.
In June, authorities in Mombasa allegedly found him in possession of 314 pieces of ivory weighing more than 2.1 tones, including 228 complete elephant tusks.
According to police, Ali was the mastermind of ivory poaching and he allegedly escaped police dragnet when police raided the warehouse.
Ali was highlighted by Interpol’s Operation Infra Terra (International Fugitive Round Up and Arrest) and featured in a worldwide Interpol public appeal for information in November.
He is the second high-profile suspect to be arrested as part of Operation Infra Terra after Ben Simasiku was arrested in Zambia in December last year.
Ali was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice for internationally wanted persons issued at the request of Kenyan authorities who suspect him of being behind an international ivory smuggling ring.
