Shkuba flown to the US

Drug trafficker Ali Khatib Haji Hassan “Shkuba” and two of his associates, Iddy Salehe Mfullu and Tiko Emanual Adam, were extradited to the United States on Monday (May 1) to face U.S. federal drug charges in Houston, Texas.  

The three defendants arrived in the United States on Tuesday (May 2).  The extradition was the culmination of close and substantial bilateral cooperation between the governments of the United States and Tanzania over an extended period of time. 

“The extradition of Hassan and his associates to the United States is the successful result of our long-term collaboration with our Tanzanian colleagues across many security, law enforcement, and justice sectors. 

This case is a tremendously positive example of how we can improve regional and global security when we work together,” said Virginia Blaser, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Tanzania and the East African Community (EAC) in Press Statement released on Tuesday.

Tanzanian authorities arrested Shkuba for drug smuggling in 2014 after a two-year manhunt precipitated by the seizure of approximately 210 kilograms of heroin in Lindi, Tanzania in January 2012.  On March 9, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Hassan and his organization as significant foreign narcotics traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).   

In March 2016, a grand jury in Houston, Texas returned an indictment charging Shkuba and his associates with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin during the period from 2010 to 2015.  The United States later formally requested Tanzania to extradite the three defendants to the United States.