Four Men Arrested With 100kgs Of Elephant Tusks In Murang’a

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 1- Four men with elephant tusks weighing 100kgs were on Sunday arrested in Kangari town in Muranga County.

The four are said to be part of a syndicate engaging in poaching and selling of wildlife trophies in the black market.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said the four were found in possession of 19 pieces of the jumbo tusks. The tusks have a street value of Sh10 million.

“A multi-agency team christened ‘Interpol Usalama 7’ which has been pursuing the notorious syndicate ambushed the suspects in two separate vehicles parked strategically ready for transaction,” the DCI said.

The DCI Special Service Unit-led team confiscated the illegal cargo stashed in the boot of two sacks, disguised as loads of cabbages.

“The suspects have since been placed in custody and undergoing investigative interviewing, with detectives seeking to effect more arrests on possible poachers and the targeted market for the products,” detectives said.

The DCI statement did not indicate whether the potential buyers are known and whether they are being pursued.

Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers. 

Tens of thousands of elephants are being killed every year for their ivory tusks.

In the 1980s, an estimated 100,000 elephants were being killed per year and up to 80 percent of herds were lost in some regions.

The ivory is often carved into ornaments and jewellery – China is the biggest consumer market for such products.

The ban on international trade was introduced in 1989 by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) after years of unprecedented poaching.

Insufficient anti-poaching capacity, weak law enforcement and corruption undermine efforts to stop the poaching and trafficking in Kenya and other African countries.

As human populations expand in Kenya, more land is being converted to agriculture. As a result, elephant habitat is shrinking and becoming more fragmented, and people and elephants are increasingly coming into contact – and conflict – with each other.

Elephants sometimes raid farmers’ fields and damage their crops – affecting the farmers’ livelihoods – and may even kill people. Elephants are sometimes killed in retaliation.

With human populations continuing to grow across their range, habitat loss and degradation – and conflict with communities – will remain major threats to elephants’ survival.

But the number of forest elephants fell by more than 86% during the past three decades. In addition, the number of savanna elephants fell by at least 60% over the past 50 years.

Kenya boasts over 34,000 elephants, and the number has been gradually increasing at an annual rate of 2.8 percent over the last three decades.

Remarkably, there has been a 96 percent decline in poaching with 11 elephants poached in 2020 compared with 386 elephants in 2013.

In June this year, the government launched an inaugural elephant naming festival, as a way to encourage Kenyans and other people across the world to play a role in their conservation.

He is said the move is aimed at raising awareness over the conservation of the majestic and endangered wild animals.

“The launch of the Magical Kenya Elephant Naming Festival will be remembered for long in the history of Kenya’s elephant conservation efforts. It is an initiative that will help us scale up conservation of elephants even higher by ensuring that Kenyans and the world at large are a part of it,” Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said during the June, 2021 event.

In addition to raising funds for the conservation of elephants by encouraging more people to take part, he said the festival will also offer them an opportunity to learn more about elephants.