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| Four arrested traffickers helping the police in investigations |
Five people have been arrested with pangolin scales and
hippo teeth in Douala during a crackdown operation carried by the Littoral
Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife. The five were attempting to sell
the illegal products when an operation team comprising wildlife officials and
the judicial police stopped them, checked and found the illegal products in
their possession. The operation was carried out with the technical assistance
of LAGA (EAGLE Cameroon).
The
pangolins scales which were packed inside bags and transported in the taxi car
from the Elf neighbourhood in Douala to Ndokoit, were mostly sourced from local
poachers around the Nkam Division. The hippo teeth, according to sources close
to case that requested to speak on condition of anonymity, were brought in from
Chad by two of the traffickers. Two of the four traffickers have been in the
pangolin scales business for long time now and this information was eventually
out. This enabled the opening of investigations against them. The car that was
transporting the pangolins scales was closely followed by one of the
traffickers on a motorbike to keep watch.
The
operation comes just 24 hours after a couple was arrested in Douala with a baby
chimp they were just about to sell. The operation was also carried by wildlife
officials at the Littoral Regional Delegation in with technical assistance from
LAGA. The couple was suspected of being in the chimp business for a long time,
shipping chimpanzees to Europe as prior investigations carried out indicated.
The
four pangolin scales traffickers have been held in custody. A case file is expected to be forwarded to
the state counsel who is expected to charge them with illegal killing of
protected species and possession of illegal wildlife products. Two precious
stones were also recovered during the seizure but the nature and legality of
the stones were not clearly determined.
Hippo teeth is fast becoming a replacement for elephant
ivory as the population of elephants have drastically fallen rendering the
sourcing of ivory very difficult. The hippo teeth were bought in from Chad that
was hosting an international ministerial conference on cross border poaching
while the operation was taking place in Douala.
Ministers
from six countries in and around the sub region including Cameroon, South
Sudan, Niger, RDC, CAR and Chad, decided during the conference to tackle cross
border trafficking and poaching that is fast becoming a serious security risk
to countries in the region. They agreed on concrete operational plans and
solutions to be applied to tackle the situation. They expressed their
willingness equally to produce concrete actions that would be applicable
immediately and shunned the old habits of producing conference recommendations
that would end up in cupboards until the next conference.
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