Kenya extradites wanted drug trafficker to the US to face trial

The Kenyan government has confirmed the extradition of international fugitive who is wanted in the United States for trafficking of narcotics. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh was extradited on Thursday night aboard a New York-bound Kenya Airways flight to face trial in the US. The extradition of the 46-year-old suspect follows his arrest on May 31 after a $1,000,000 (Sh117.25 million) bounty was placed on his head. According to the US government, between August 2018 and May 2019, Saleh and others, who were identified during a wildlife trafficking investigation, conspired to distribute at least 10 kilograms of heroin to a buyer in New York. After several meetings, Saleh and his co-conspirators delivered the first kilogram of heroin to a buyer in Nairobi. On July 11, 2019, the suspect was arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for drug trafficking in Kenya and arraigned at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Law Courts a day later. “During Saleh’s judicial process in the country, he was released on Sh200,000 bail. Saleh disappeared and became a fugitive, with a warrant for his arrest being issued,” DCI detectives said. A joint investigation of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned an indictment charging Saleh and others with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.