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When the US government and Kenya appealed for information about a man wanted by the US government over drug trafficking claims, several tips came in form of calls and texts.
Abdi Hussein Ahmed was wanted in the US over claims and was in June 2022 arrested in Maua, Meru County, where he was staying in a rented room.
This is after detectives received information on his whereabouts through the #FichuakwaDCI anonymous hotline, 0800 722 203. The informant pocketed a cool Sh120 million.
Officials say he was later repatriated to the US with his family for fears he may be harmed.
Ahmed’s accomplice Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh was in May this year arrested as he tried to flee to Somalia and was brought to Nairobi. He was later extradited to the USA.
The two had a $2 million (Sh240 million) bounty on their heads for trafficking wildlife and narcotics to the USA. The money was paid to different informants say whenever a tip is received, intelligence officials conduct further checks to establish if it is a goose chase.
There are dozens of officials manning the call centres of the numbers provided for tips and acting on the same promptly.
After it is verified, agents are sent to meet the tipster if one is willing for a meeting.
The tips include contacts of the wanted suspect, their location or close friends and places he or she frequents.
According to officials, once a tip is considered credible and workable, agents move into action to make arrests.
Then the tipster is approached for negotiations on payments and depending on the nature of the threats, they are offered options of relocation.
A tipster can be a friend, relative or partner of a wanted person.
“Depending on the levels of threats involved, people can be relocated either internally or out of the country,” said an official aware of the issue.
Kenyan officials have paid millions of shillings in form of bounties to those who give information to authorities on various issues.
On Thursday, January 12, the US government offered a staggering Sh1.2 billion ($10 million) for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of Mohamoud Abdi Aden and any other individual who committed, attempted or conspired to commit, or aided or abetted in the commission of the 2019 attack on the DusitD2 hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya.
This will be paid through the Rewards for Justice (RFJ). Tipsters can contact Rewards for Justice via Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at +1-202-702-7843, or via local tips lines at +254 71 87 12 366 in Kenya and +252 68 43 43 308 in Somalia.
All information will be kept strictly confidential. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid in excess of $250 million to more than 125 people across the globe who provided actionable information that had helped resolve threats to US national security, the US says.
RFJ is the US Department of State’s premier national security rewards program.
It was established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, Public Law 98-533 (codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2708) and is administered by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
The mission of RFJ is to offer rewards for information that protects American lives and furthers U.S. national security objectives.
Potential tipsters can learn more about the program as well as how to submit tips at the official RFJ website: www.RewardsForJustice.net.
Since 1984, Congress has expanded the RFJ’s statutory authorities to offer rewards for information.
The US says Mohamoud Abdi Aden, aka Mohamud Abdirahman, an al-Shabaab leader, was part of the cell that planned the Dusit2 Hotel attack.
In October 2022, the Department of State designated Aden as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended.
Al-Shabaab is responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Kenya, Somalia, and neighboring countries that have killed thousands of people, including U.S. citizens.
The terrorist group continues to plot, plan, and conspire to commit terrorist acts against the United States, US interests, and foreign partners.
The Department of State designated al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in March 2008.
In April 2010, al-Shabaab was also designated by the UN Security Council’s Somalia Sanctions Committee pursuant to paragraph 8 of resolution 1844 (2008).