The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Thursday asked the court to allow its investigators to hold Feiswal Mohamed Ali and Mohammed Hassan Kontoma for 10 days to probe their alleged link to international organised poaching in the country.
KWS, in its application, argued that the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on Thursday said that the complexity of the wildlife crimes and cross-border linkages requires the investigators to burn the midnight oil to know who the consumers of the trophy and other players are who are involved. "We need to package the evidence in a manner that is palatable to the court.
We also have to cross-check the information the investigators have and what is beyond our borders," argued State prosecutor Allen Mulama.
Mulama, before Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, magistrate Njeri Thuku argued that the investigators will also be looking into the financial dealings of Mohamed and Hassan. He stated that Mohamed had a questionable past as he had vanished from the country while he was engaged in another case. "The respondent was arrested in Tanzania having fled the jurisdiction at the Mombasa Law Court," argued Mulama, adding that the Court of Appeal unanimously agreed that in instances where a person is known to be a flight risk, he or she ought not to be released." "We are apprehensive that, given a chance, the respondent will take flight," argued Mulama.
