Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers nabbed
two suspects with ten pieces weighing 73 kilograms of ivory valued at
7.3 million shillings (73,000 U.S. dollars) in Samburu village in the
coastal town of Kwale.
The two, Charles Mweni, 32, and Tabitha Mueni 43 were arrested on
Thursday evening after an operation conducted by the DCI detectives
working in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service rangers from
Mombasa and Kenya Police from Taru Police Station.
“We arrested them after a tip-off from members of public and they are
being held at Taru Police Station as we speak,” Coast KWS Conservation
Area Assistant Director Arthur Tuda told Xinhua on Friday.
He said that the officers posed as buyers before pouncing on the
suspects. “If the public continues being vigilant like this we will
end the poaching menace and save our elephants,” he added.
KWS officials say the elephants could have been killed in the nearby
Tsavo National Park.
The arrests are latest in a series of seizures made this year by the
anti-poaching officers.
In July, police canine unit sniffed out 35 pieces of ivory tusks worth
180,000 dollars at Makombeni village, Kilifi County leading to arrests
of two suspects. In May, officers nabbed 8 pieces of ivory weighing 8
kilograms concealed in a sack of maize and arrested two suspects.
Mombasa port, the largest port in East Africa, is used as a transit
route by smugglers of illegal animal parts, according to international
investigating agencies.