Three Italians arrested in coast wanted at home for crime

Drugs trafficking suspects arrested in the coast following a police operation in this photograph taken on March 31, 2017. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Leone Fulvio, Mario Mele and Stefano Poli were on the International Criminal Police Organization's Red Notice as fugitives wanted to serve sentences.

  • Filvio, 68, has been on the run from 1993 when he was convicted by an Italian court for drug related charges.

Three Italians arrested in the coast last week for drug trafficking had fled Italy after being involved in crime.

Leone Fulvio, Mario Mele and Stefano Poli were on the International Criminal Police Organization's (Interpol's) Red Notice as fugitives wanted to serve sentences.

Mr Filvio, 68, has been on the run from 1993 when he was convicted by an Italian court for drug related charges. He was arrested on Thursday.

“He has also been fighting an extradition case having renounced his Italian citizenship in December 2009 and opting for naturalisation as a Kenyan citizen; notwithstanding his criminal record in Italy,” a Directorate of Criminal Investigations report on his profile states.

The three, and nine others who included Kenyans, were paraded at the Coast Regional Police Headquarters in Mombasa by the regional police commander Philip Tuimur.

A circular posted last year by Interpol said the suspect had on May 17 1983 bought and kept, either to give or to sell to third persons 283.31g of drugs of which 67.99g were of pure heroin”.

Mario Mele, 56, who was born in Nuoro, Italy, arrived in Kenya in 2012, leaving behind a trial where he was being charged with tax evasion and fraudulent bankruptcy amounting to €17 million.

'MAFIA CLAN'

“Police in Italy also found a trace linking him directly to a mafia clan from his home town of Sicily,” the profile stated.

Interpol says that Mr Mario with other people promoted and organised the criminal association, setting up and running the following companies: Edo Group, The Magic group, Hotel Della Spiaggia, Vacanze Azure, La Fenice Engineering and Herescafe’ Sas, among others.

He is also accused of concealing or destroying the accountings of the societies and falsified the creditors’ ledger against the tax authorities.

He is wanted by the Italian police for ‘criminal association aimed at committing fraud’, an offence that attracts upto 49 years in jail.

Mr Mele is the owner of Patapata Beach Club in Malindi, the Mario’s Restaurant near Nakumatt Malindi and Mario’s Buddha Fashion Lounge.

Police also said that the suspect is involved in production of pornographic movies in the coast.

One of the Kenyan suspects, Hawa Abdalla, has a pending case in court and police profiled her as the one who recruits drug couriers who ingest narcotic pellets.

“Ms Abdalla has since diversified her criminal portfolio in a bid to launder her proceeds of crime,” Mr Tuimur told journalists in Mombasa. He said the suspect runs Salon Touch and Spa off Digo Road in Mombasa.

THE DIRECTOR

He said that Ms Abdalla is the director of the Halsa Solutions, a company that bids for tenders in Mombasa and Kwale.

A report says that she recently won tenders to provide security at the port of Mombasa in what police believe was meant to assist her as the point of entry for drugs.

Ms Abdalla works with Jacob Egadwa Anyandwa, another suspect who was also picked up by police. He is believed to have been storing narcotics.

The third Italian suspect, Stefano Poli, 70, from Gomo, Italy, arrived in Kenya last year, after escaping a 10-year and nine months’ sentence over fiscal fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy. He has been living a secretive life, alternating between Mombasa and Malindi, the report says.

Interpol profiles Poli Stefano as the administrator of the society Cos Edil srl. He was declared bankrupt by a Milan Court and is to serve four years in prison.

He is accused of ‘destroying and removing the books and records of this society to cause prejudice to the creditors for €6.7 million through unjustified transactions from bank accounts of the society in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

'NOT PAY'

“Poli Stefano put the society out of business because he did not pay the taxes,” says the Interpol profile said.

As an administrator of another society, Rosedil srl, Mr Stefano was on February 7, 2008 declared bankrupt and was sentenced to five years together with Rossi Mauro for manipulating records.

On Saturday, police said that the three Italian nationals would be deported to their country for prosecution and imprisonment.

At least nine other people were arrested together with the Italian nationals and heroin worth Sh10 million, an illegal pistol, cash and several rounds of ammunition recovered.

The head of Anti-Narcotics Unit Hamisi Masa said among those who were arrested was Makori Bosire Nyaigoti, who is based in Ukunda, Kwale.

“He is the main supplier of heroin sourced from Tanzania consumed in South Coast. He is a repeat offender who previously fled from custody in handcuffs while being ferried to the police cells,” Mr Masa said, adding that the suspect was found with an illegal pistol and ammunition.

Mr Makori, according to detectives, works with his brother, Mwaniki Nyaigoti Makori, and Ruwa Mwaruwa who stores and distributes narcotics as well as collecting money from the syndicate.

Another suspect, a Tanzanian by the name Masuo Bakari Tajiri was also picked up from his home in Mwembe Tayari.

Police said he had previously served 20 years in jail in Kenya for robbery with violence and was released in 2015 following a presidential pardon. In his house, police found a fake Kenyan identity card.