'Organized crime' behind elephant kills
By Agence France-Presse in Nairobi | China Daily | Updated: 2015-01-26 08:04
Shortly before 11 am on the last Saturday in May, a heavily laden white Mitsubishi truck pulled into the Fuji Motors East Africa car dealership in an industrial neighborhood on the northern edge of Mombasa.
The truck's cargo was not "household equipment" as declared, but 228 elephant tusks and 74 ivory pieces weighing a total of 2,152 kilograms.
When Kenyan police officers raided the dealership five days later, they refused a bribe of five million shillings ($55,000), seized the ivory and arrested two men. The bust was one of the biggest in the country's history, but the suspected mastermind, Feisal Mohamed Ali, 46, escaped.
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