Three Arrested for Trafficking Ivory to Nigeria

Ivory discovered at Douala Port des peches

Three people have been arrested in connection to ivory trafficking during an operation carried out by the Douala Port Maritime Brigade. The three were arrested during attempts by a wildlife crime syndicate to smuggle 125 tusks and dozens of ivory pieces to Nigeria.

                A 31-year old man who was about transporting bales of clothing at the Port des Peches in Douala was stopped by gendarme officers and questioned on the contents of the cargo following prior investigations that revealed that ivory was hidden inside second hand dresses and smuggled to Nigeria.

                His reaction raised further questions and the gendarmerie officers decided to check the seven bales of clothing. The contraband was found carefully concealed inside the illicit cargo. He was arrested and taken to the gendarmerie office where two of his accomplices were later arrested as they came attempting to bribe the brigade commander for his release. One of the traffickers who is connected to this ring is still at large.

                The case was forwarded to the state counsel who returned the file to wildlife officials of the Littoral Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife with the competence to handling such matters. The legal proceedings in prosecuting wildlife traffickers was carried out  with the technical support of a conservation group called LAGA and the traffickers returned to the state prosecutor who indicted them on charges ranging from corruption attempts, illegal possession of parts of protected wildlife species to the killing of protected wildlife species.

                Priori investigations provided insights on how the ring operates with connections found in the South Region and Gabon. They were equally connected to traffickers arrested in previous operations including big pangolin scales operations carried out in the past, in Douala. One of the three, is a Nigerian national and several illicit wildlife products heading to Nigeria have in the past been intercepted during crackdown operations

                Traffickers use the several small ports littered along the Cameroon – Nigeria coastline to smuggle ivory, pangolin scales and several other products to Nigeria where they are exported to Asia. In December last year, three were arrested by the police with over 158 ivory tusks and thousands of other wildlife products as they were loading the illegal consignment on board a truck for smuggling to Nigeria. The case is currently being tried at the Bonanjo court of first instance.

                In 2014, a man was arrested in Edea with 30 ivory tusks hidden in bales of clothing he was transporting to Douala in a consignement that was believed to be heading to Nigeria. Over one ton of ivory was seized in 2009 by wildlife officials as they illicit cargo was heading to Nigeria. The relative ease with which traffickers operate in Nigeria has made the country a preferred destination for big time traffickers seeking to export contraband to Asia.

                According to sections 101 and 158 of the 1994 law that governs the forestry and wildlife sector anyone found in possession of parts of protected wildlife species is presumed to have captured or killed the animal and  is liable to a prison term of 1 to 3 years and or a fine of 3 to 10 million francs.