E099/24_GARSEN - Republic vs. Faraji Omar Bakari, Abdallah Wachu, and Anna Hiribae - 85.7 kg
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- On September 20, 2024, KWS in the Garsen area arrested Faraj Omar, Abdallah Wachu, and Anna Hiribae with two elephant tusks cut into 4 pieces.
- This was five days after they had arrested Bosco Thoya Katana and Emmanuel Kazungu Birya with two large tusks weighing just over 62 kg. This is an area of the country that typically does not see ivory trafficking seizures or arrests.
- However, in January of this year, five men from the Garsen area were arrested for dealing in rhino horn from an animal that had been killed in Ngulia rhino sanctuary a month before. This suggests the presence of an organized criminal group based in Garsen that deals in wildlife trophies. That matter is presently before Kahawa law courts.
- It is expected that the three arrested on Friday will be arraigned in Garsen court on Monday September 23rd.
Police arrest 3 with ivory tusks worth Ksh8.5M
by Arnold Ngure September 21, 2024
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers arrested three men and handed them over to police officers after they were found with ivory tusks worth approximately Ksh8.5 million.
In a statement by the National Police Service (NPS), the trio were arrested along the Garsen-Witu Road on Friday, September 20, 2024.
“Police in Garsen on 20/09/2024 arrested three suspects after the trio were found by KWS officers while in possession of 85.7 kg of ivory tusks. The suspects, namely Faraj Omar, Abdallah Wachu, and Anna Hiribae, were arrested along Garsen-Witu Road,” police stated.
While the origin of the elephant tusks is unknown, police have launched investigations to establish how the three came into possession of the banned items.
The arrests come months after a similar operation was conducted in May 2024 when KWS officers arrested two men in Mwingi with elephant tusks worth Ksh8.9 million.
This followed another seizure in which police, in collaboration with KWS officers, nabbed Ksh60 million worth of elephant tusks and arrested another police officer who had accompanied the seller in Eastleigh.
The two were arrested after KWS posed as the would-be buyers of the ivory and suggested that they meet in Eastleigh.
Measures against poaching
In 2013, Kenya imposed stringent measures to control the trade in ivory tusks, among other banned items, ostensibly to protect rhinos and elephants from poachers.
The Kenya Wildlife Conservation Act of 2013 stimulates a maximum fine of Ksh20 million or life imprisonment for perpetrators found guilty of killing elephants and rhinos for trophy items.
The Act classifies the African elephant as an endangered species due to poaching, which threatened its existence, with Kenya having led the ban on game hunting to contain the vice.
Ivory tusk ban
While the ivory trade was banned in 1989 at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the underground trafficking of the items has continued, fueled by a demand for the products in Asia and the Middle East.
KWS statistics indicate that in the 1970s and early 1980s, the nation’s elephant count was estimated at 170,000 individuals, but this dropped sharply to 16,000 elephants by the end of 1989 due to international demand for ivory.
Through the government’s continued interventions, including legal and policy measures, the downward trend has been reversed, resulting in the national elephant population shooting by more than five per cent to the current of 36,000 by August 2023.
Three arrested with elephant tusks worth Sh8m in Tana River
Police said the suspects had hidden the tusks in a bush as they waited for a possible buyer when they were busted.
Three suspects were Friday, September 20 arrested with 85.7 kilos of elephant tusks worth Sh8 million along Garsen-Witu Road in Tana River County.The three included a woman and were carrying two elephant tusks that had been chopped into pieces and tucked into two sacks, police and Kenya Wildlife Service officials said.Police said the suspects had hidden the tusks in a bush as they waited for a possible buyer when they were busted.They were arrested and taken to Garsen police station for grilling ahead of planned arraignment on Monday.Police said the suspects will be charged with the offence of being in Possession of Wildlife Trophies of Endangered Species Contrary to Section 92(4) of the Wildlife Conservation Management Act 2013.Officials said the seizure shows an elephant had been killed and there is a likelihood the incident happened in the nearby parks.Elephant tusks fetch a fortune in the black market as a surge in demand for ivory in the East continues to fuel the illicit trade in elephant tusks, especially from Africa.Officials say despite a ban on the international ivory trade, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers.As part of efforts to stop the menace, Kenya has started using high-tech surveillance equipment, including drones, to track poachers and keep tabs on elephants and rhinos.KWS and stakeholders have put in place mechanisms to eradicate all forms of wildlife crime, particularly poaching.These mechanisms include enhanced community education, interagency collaboration, and intensive intelligence-led operations, among others.These efforts led to zero rhino poaching in Kenya in 2020-the first time in about two decades.
