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| Man arrested with Ivory tusks |
A team comprising wildlife and police
officers arrested a suspected trafficker who was traveling in a dark blue car
with two carved ivory tusks. The man was arrested after the car was stopped and
searched, at an entrance to the Bastosneighourhood in Yaounde.
The
operation that was carried out by the Centre Regional Delegation for Forestry
and Wildlife in collaboration with the police was technically assisted by The
Last Great Ape Organistion (LAGA) and is part of government’s initiative to
track and prosecute wildlife traffickers.,
According
to preliminary investigations that was revealed by a source close to the case,
the man leftKribi early Monday May 22 to Yaounde. When he arrived the motor
park at the Mvanneighbourhood, he boarded another car and made for the north of
the town but because he had been
under investigations for a while, he was quietly tracked and arrested as he
climbed a short drive into the Bastosneighbourhood.
When
police stopped the car, the alarmed man fidgeted and pushed the bag he was
carrying in between his legs. He was asked to pull open the bag and two ivory
tusks were recovered among underwear which he had used to wrap the ivory, with
the intention to repel anyone who was keen on seeing what was bulging from the
bundle. Traffickers are used to various concealment techniques and many say
this is the first time they are uncovering the use of underwear to hide ivory.
The
same unnamed sources said the 37-year old Kribi resident intended to travel to
Meiganga for to get more wildlife products but needed to conduct business here
in Yaounde so that he could have sufficient money for the trip to Meiganga – a
town which seems to be turning out into a trafficking hub in the Adamawa
region. An operation was carried out there in April and three people were arrested for lion and
leopard skin trafficking.
The
trafficker was pulled out of the car and taken
to the police station, where
could be heard denying that it was not ivory but bones which he had
carved to trick clients into buying them. This is a new defence strategy used
by ivory traffickers who pretend that what they have is not ivory but carved bones, presumably
from cattle, when they are arrested. Prices for illegal ivory has been up for
quite a few decades now and this is sustaining the black market for ivory where
huge profits may be made and for this reason, some even try to sell bones when
they can’t get ivory but when they equally use trick to trick wildlife
officials that what they have are bones not ivory when arrested with ivory.
Officials are generally not fooled by this maneuver because they very well know
the difference between the two and a technique using the “Schreger lines” are
used when in doubt.
The
1994 wildlife law prohibits the trade in protected wildlife species and
traffickers arrested breaking the law may face up to 3 years imprisonment and a
fine of up to10 million CFA Francs. Wildlife officials are presently doing
preliminary work for prosecution proper to begin and charges including unlawful
possession, circulation of and commercialization of ivory and killing of a
protected species, in this instance an elephant are expected to be brought
against the suspect who is presently behind bars. He was presented to the state
counsel two days after his arrest.
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