Mansur Mohamed Surur is one of the most wanted Kenyans by the US government.
His days and nights are filled with misery as he fights extradition to the US where he will be charged with at least five counts of trafficking in New York.
This, he knows, is a direct ticket to US prison cells for many years which for a man of his age, 60 years, he may not handle at all.
He has a bounty on his head as the US government seeks to charge him for his transgressions in trafficking rhino horns and elephant tusks.
For more than a decade, together with his co-conspirators Badru, Moazu Kromah, Amara Cherif and Abdi Hussein Ahmed; Surur ran a sophisticated wildlife smuggling syndicate in the US for over a decade with billions of shillings to his name from the trade.
He has killed over 100 elephants and 35 rhinos for the precious horns and tusks.
Surur, a fugitive who had been on the run for years was arrested in July 2020 upon arrival at the Moi International Airport from Yemen where he had been hiding.
When he got wound of reports that Interpol was on his radar, he flew to Yemen which has no extradition treaty with Kenya or the US. There, he knew he would be safe but not until his return to Kenya.
Besides Surur’s transgressions in the criminal enterprise that is poaching and wildlife trafficking, he has a record of money laundering and had been on Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) radar for drug trafficking and distribution.
On Monday when he appeared before Milimani Court magistrate, he was a worried man as the Director of Public Prosecution presented an argument for the cancellation of his bail granted by the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Magistrates Court.
Haji argued that Surur is likely to escape now that he knows the weight of the charges he will face once he is extradited.
The DPP gave an example of his co-conspirator, Abdul Aziz Saleh alias Badro who went into hiding from last year after being granted bail awaiting extradition hearings.
