Supermarket Receipt Leads to the Tracing of Suspected Ivory Smuggler

A Nakumatt supermarket receipt allegedly led to the tracing of the main suspect behind the Sh1 billion ivory haul seized in Singapore and Thailand last month.

The suspect identified as Said Juma Said who is a Tanzanian national had rented the house where detectives believe the initial consignment of tea was replaced with ivory.

The man who was Thursday, June 4 arrained in court is said to have been using multiple names as he had both Kenyan and Tanzania identification documents.

When the investigating team raided the house, they recovered a number of items including ivory chips, an electric cutter and the receipt.

They established that the receipt was issued by Nakumatt’s Likoni branch, where a purchase was done using a Nakumatt Smart card registered in the name of Sheikh Mahmoud Abdulrahaman.

It was then that other details on him including his Kenyan ID number, telephone number and Tanzanian passport number were obtained.

The Immigration department is said to have later confirmed that the passport and the photos belonged to Mr Said Juma Said who also used the name Abdulrahaman Mahmoud Sheikh, the main suspect, The Nation reports.

The latest ivory smuggling incidents have seen President Uhuru Kenyatta pledge to bring to book all those involved

President Kenyatta Friday reiterated that port officers and any other person involved in ivory trafficking will be arrested and charged.

Two consignments of ivory worth Sh1 billion were reportedly seized in Thailand and Singapore in April and May, respectively and had been shipped through the port of Mombasa disguised as tea.

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