A Kenyan man, Mansur Mohamed Surur, has pleaded not guilty to trafficking ivory and rhino horns worth millions of dollars in a U.S. court.
He also denied charges of money laundering and drug dealing but continues to be detained without bail.
Audrey Strauss, the Southern District of New York’s Attorney General, in a statement, said Surur was arrested by Kenyan authorities on July 29, 2020, in Mombasa, southeast Kenya “on charges of conspiracy to traffic in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, both endangered wildlife species, which involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.”
Surur was also accused of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 10 kilograms of heroin.
Surur is accused alongside three accomplices: Moazu Kromah, a citizen of Liberia, who was deported to the US from Uganda on June 13, 2019; Amara Cherif, a citizen of Guinea, who was extradited to the US from Senegal on April 3, 2020 and Abdi Hussein Ahmed, a citizen of Kenya who remains a fugitive.
Surur and three others are accused of agreeing to illegal sales with buyers in Manhattan, as well as others in South East Asia.
The statement said 60-year-old Surur is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking and two counts of wildlife trafficking, which each carry a maximum sentence of five years; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; and 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 imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.