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| Ivory trafficker at police station |
Two people suspected of trafficking in ivory were arrested at the
Bastos neighbourhood in Yaounde on October 9, by wildlife officials who were
backed up by a team of police officers during a crackdown operation.
The two
traffickers who arrived on board a taxi, packed the car in front of a popular
bar at the junction popularly known as Carrefour Bastos and one them went into
the bar and remerged minutes later. He then went into the taxi and collected a
plastic bag which he grasped nervously and dashed straight into the bar while
the rain thundered outside. As he headed into the bar, he was tracked by
wildlife officials who would arrest him inside the bar while the second who
waited impatiently in the taxi was also arrested Two ivory tusks were found in the plastic
bag. The two traffickers were then driven to the 10th District Police Station
where their interrogation began and they would be locked up after this initial
proceeding ended. The operation was carried out by the Centre Regional
Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife with the technical assistance of a wildlife
law enforcement support body called LAGA.
According to
sources close to the case and speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the
traffickers, a 45-year old man, had been
tracked for close to 6 months for his involvement in the illegal ivory trade.
He is suspected to have a ring of poachers who supply him with raw ivory while
he deals directly with Chinese traffickers. Shortly before his arrest, he had
driven his taxi carin from Bafia where it is suspected he went to collect
wildlife products. He equally made a brief tour of the Carrefour Bastos area to
ensure all was well with doing an ivory transaction without risk of getting
arrest there. His cautiousness, wildlife law enforcement experts say, is a
measure of his professionalism and expertise in the trade.
The traffickers
are presently behind bars and are expected to answer to charges of illegal
possession, circulation and commercialization of parts of protected wildlife
species according to the 1994 wildlife law. The law stipulates that they could
face up to 3 years imprisonment and or a fine of up to 10 million CFA Francs.
The illegal trade
in ivory is considered to be the main driver pushing elephats to extinction in the country and the Ministry of
Forestry and Wildlfie has been committing huge efforts in wildlife law
enforcement. This is considered to be the most urgent conservation measure to
hamper the free flow of ivory into these illegal markets. As a show of
determination to eradicate the illegal trade in ivory, government has been
collaborating with stakeholders including LAGA for over a decade now to
properly enforce the laws. Besides law enforcement, last year close
to 3,5 tons of ivory were destroyed by government to indicate its
determination to fight the trade to its bitter end.
Elephants are
classified as either partially protected or totally protected in the country
depending on the size of their tusks and as each of the tusk seized from the
two that were seized weighed less than 5kg, the animals from which these tusks
were obtained are therefore listed in the totally protected category. Totally
protected animals are given the highest protection in the country and shall
never be hunted or killed. Cameroon is home to two elephant species, the forest
elephant and the larger savannah elephant and both are severely threatened by
the illegal trade that stimulates poaching for its ivory.
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