Elephant Ivory, Gun Seized as Two Are Arrested

Two Arrested with Elephant Ivory

Two traffickers have been sentenced to a one-year imprisonment term by the Ambam Court of First Instance. Nkomo Joseph and Awouka Basile  were arrested in March this year with 4 ivory tusks and a rifle which was used in killing elephants. They were ordered to pay fines and damages of over 10 million CFA Francs. A third suspect in the matter was found guilty of complicity in committing the offences and given a suspended sentence of 6 months.

                The twoconvicted traffickersweretransporting ivory tusks and agun along the Campo - Ebolowa road when they were arrested by officials of the South Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife. The lady who was given a suspended sentence was later arrested for providing a hunting rifle that was found in their possession alongside the ivory and a military uniform.

                The two, aged 41-year-old each, were travelling on board a car with the products loaded in the boot when the car was checked at the Meyo Centre carrefour by wildlife officials who had prior information of the nature of the products the car was transporting. The operation was carried out with the collaboration of the judicial police in Ebolowa and with the technical assistance of a non governmental organization called LAGA (EAGLE Cameroon).

                Wildlife officials and plain clothes policemen had been monitoring the movement of the car and when it stopped in Meyo, they were immediatelyapproached andthe car blocked at both ends. Two men who were at the back seats were ordered to step out. After the arrest, Senior Police SuperintendentHenrick Walter Elouna who is the Head of the South Regional Judicial Police declared: “I was approached by the South Regional Delegate ofForestry and Wildlife, to give a hand to his collaborators and the NGO called LAGA”. When the team arrived the ground, they found the car and Elouna declared: “we arrested two poachers who had killed two elephants”.

                A Carabine 450 rifle was found inside according to Nchenghe Pius Arrey, a wildlife controller who was part of the team. He said:“We discovered four elephant tusks and a gun inside.”The gun was found in a bag that equally containeda saw, a calculator, a military fatigue, a scale and a torch. These are handful equipment for operating in the forests, killing elephants,cutting off the tusks and weighing them.  The second bag contained four ivory tusks cut into 7 pieces.

                Some law enforcement experts welcome the decision by the court to hand a one-year sentence as stipulated by the 1994 wildlife law that says anyone found in possession of part or whole of a protected wildlife species is considered to have killed the animal and is liable to a prison term of 1 to 3 years and or a fine of 3 to 10 million F CFA.

                The judgement is a second strong ruling on a wildlife case by a court of first instance this year. Moussa Adamou who arrested in May for trafficking in 5 ivory tusks and 2 hippo teeth was recently given the maximum prison sentence of 3 years by the Bertoua Court of First Instance. He was equally ordered to pay a fine of 3 million F CFA and damages of over 17 million FCFA.  He is presently serving the prison term in Bertoua.