Kenyan police seize two more containers full of ivory in Mombasa
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E-mail Xinhua, July 9, 2013
Kenya's security agencies on Tuesday seized two more containers full of ivory as the authorities vowed to step up all-round surveillance at all the entry points to the East African nation.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Assistant Commissioner Fatma Yusuf said the two containers which originated from Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were intercepted on Monday night.
KWS Spokesperson, Paul Mbugua said in Nairobi that the ivory, weighing more than 3, 287 tons, comprised of 382 whole pieces and 62 cut pieces with a street value of 755,000 U.S. dollars.
The consignment had been declared as 240 bags of groundnuts. Mbugua said the contraband cargo was destination for Malaysia just like the one seized last week.
"We have subjected the two containers to 100 percent verification to ascertain their contents and after declaration of the documents we discovered to be suspect by our team at Custom office within the port of Mombasa," Yusuf told journalists in the coastal city of Mombasa.
The Monday evening seizure came a few hours after the authorities intercepted a container full of ivory disguised as groundnuts on Monday at the Port of Mombasa, thanks to inter- agency collaboration between the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Ports Authority, Police and KRA.
Preliminary reports indicate that a total of 119 gunny bags had been used to wrap either a single or double pieces of ivory.
"Together with the ivory inside the container were unprocessed groundnuts in gunny bags. Two other containers are lined up for verification," Mbugua said on Tuesday in Nairobi.
The East African nation has been rocked by rising cases of poaching that has seen a number of rhinos and lions decline sharply in the recently past.
Dozens of rhinoceros, an all-time high, have been poached in the last 4 years, and current poaching of elephants is documented to be the highest since the 1980s. The illegal poaching of wildlife for commercial purposes is also decimating many more species.
KWS has listed elephants, lions, wild dogs, leopards, cheetah, hyenas, Sitatunga, Tana crested mangabey, and Tana red Columbus monkeys as some of the most endangered wildlife species in Kenya.
Data from the CITES monitoring program showed that 2011 had the highest level of poaching since records began in 2002.
In Mombasa, Yusuf said they would not relent in ridding the country off drugs and ivory smuggling which has increased in the recent past.
"Our officers were able to recover 444 big raw ivory tusks from a 20-feet container that was impounded at the port of Mombasa. We are still investigating. They could be more containers with ivory hidden within the port awaiting shipment," Yusuf said.
She said Custom official are also holding two 20 feet containers suspected to contain ivory at the port city.
KWS Director for Coast Region Arthur Tuda said the recent seizure is a result of collaboration among other authority at the port of Mombasa.
He said the port of Mombasa risk being black listed as among the port that are involved in shipment of illegal ivory trade.
"We committed our country by signing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to curb ivory trade or we risk sanction," he said.
"Its national obligation to ensure that we are not branded as a country that support illegal trade in ivory," said Tuda.
The treaty resolved that if those plans are not completed as envisaged, sanctions against the offending country, or countries, be taken from July 2014.
According KWS a total 200 poachers have been killed in a span of three months and firearms recovered at the major national parks in the country as war on ivory is stepped up.
Heavily-armed criminals kill elephants and rhinos for their tusks, which are used for ornaments and in some folk medicines.
Poached ivory is believed to be exchanged for money, weapons and ammunition to support conflicts in the region. CITES and its partners are supporting the strengthening of national enforcement capacities to fight wildlife crime. Endi
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