Pakistani live animals ‘smuggler’ jumps bail

A PAKISTANI national who is charged with smuggling live wild animals worth $ 113,715 from the country, Mr Kamran Ahmed, is still at large and efforts to arrest him have proved futile.

Senior State Attorney, Ms Eveta Mushi, told Moshi Principal Resident Magistrate in charge, Mr Simon Kobelo, that they were still trying to apprehend the accused in fulfillment of an arrest warrant which was issued on Monday afternoon by the same court.

When Magistrate Kobelo was ready in his chambers to proceed with the matter it transpired that even Mr Kamran’s advocate, Mr Edmund Ngelema, was not present, although he had sent a message earlier that he would be in court. He did not turn up on Monday either.

The Pakistani, who is co-charged with Tanzanians Hawa Mang’unyuka, Martin Kimathi and Michael Disha with smuggling more than 100 animals through the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) on November 26, 2010, was known to have skipped bail since Monday as he did not turn up when the case was up for hearing.

Ms Mushi, who is assisted by Senior State Attorney, Mr Joseph Maugo, said they were also in the process of getting documents filed by Mr Kamran’s sureties so that the law may take its course.

Magistrate Kobelo adjourned the matter to April 17 when it would come up for another, stressing that the warrant of arrest he had issued on Monday was still in force while bail conditions for other accused persons still applied.

The ‘Daily News’ could not establish the names and properties or amounts of money that was agreed upon by the sureties, because the case file was not in the courtroom.

It was later learnt later that the file was with the High Court which set the bail conditions for Kamran. The animals in question, including four giraffes, were exported to Qatar in a military plane without proper documents.

This is not the first time that Kamran has missed attending court, because on February 26 the case had to be adjourned after Counsel Ngalema told the court that his client was too ill to come to court.

Reports about Kamran falling ill came some hours after the 20th prosecution witness had testified how the live animals were loaded into a Qatar military plane without the necessary documents in the presence of the first accused person.

In criminal cases, the accused have to be present during the whole trial even if they are represented by a counsel. Kamran is facing another criminal case in Arusha in which he is charged with being in possession of fake United States dollars. He is also out on bail in the case.

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