Bar Owner Arrested |
A wildlife
trafficker has been arrested in Betare-Oya by the officials of the East
Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife during a crackdown operation
carried out in the town.
The
42-year-old man was found in front a bar with a bag containing 40kg of pangolin
scales, 6 hippopotamus teeth and 2 boa skins during the operation that was
carried with the collaboration of the gendarmerie legion and with technical
assistance from wildlife law enforcement support body LAGA (EAGLE Cameroon).
On arrival at the scene, law
enforcement officers quickly recognized the man who is alleged to be a
notorious trafficker in the area, dealing in several illegal products including
gold. Shortly before his arrest, he is suspected of having sold two leopards
skins. His links include international clients and had a suspicious contact
with a Chinese national who was equally based in the town and had since left
the country.
After the operation that took place
in front of the bar where the bag of scales and other contraband had been
parked visibly for transportation, the suspect was immediately taken to the
East Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife were legal proceedings
against him were initiated. Eyewitnesses say he owns the bar. He had been using
it for cover to carry out several illegal activities including trafficking in
minerals and wildlife products. The combination of boa skins, hippopotamus
teeth and pangolin scales is indicative of his profile that seemed very broad
based. According sources involved in the operation who accepted to speak on
condition of anonymity, he is alleged to be heavily involved in ivory
trafficking.
The same sources said that he works
in close collaboration with a junior brother who was tracked last year with
pangolin scales in Yaounde shortly before he disappeared. He was being targeted
for pangolin scales trafficking and an operation team was just about to move in
for his arrest. The suspect is presently behind bars waiting for the case whose
first hearing is expected to come up soon at Bertoua court of first instance.
The arrest comes a few days to
February 17, 2018 when the country celebrates the 7th edition of the World
Pangolin Day. The pangolin has been the object of incessant capture to supply
bushmeat and most dangerously the illegal trade in its scales that is mostly
destined for Asian countries. According to statistics for the last two years from
the wildlife law enforcement support body LAGA, over 7000kg of pangolins scales
have been seized during crackdown operations carried out by the Ministry of
Forestry and Wildlife within the framework of its wildlife law enforcement
programme started in 2003 with the support of LAGA.
The present state of the pangolin is
not flattering and in view to tackling such a calamitous situation, some
conservation organisations (WWF, TRAFFIC, ZSL and LAGA) met in Yaounde recently
and mapped out activities aimed at celebrating the 2018 World Pangolin Day.
They agreed to work under the theme “Save the Pangolin” and the pangolin indeed
needs to be saved in earnest because of all the species threatened with
extinction, none has faced indescribable neglect and abandonment like the
pangolin. The tide may soon be turning as conservationists mount an attack on
some of these threats. They say it starts with sensitization of the public
whose knowledge about the pangolin is severely limited to just bushmeat.
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