Three Ivory Traffickers Arrested in Mouila (Gabon)

Author(s)

GaboNews, Conservation Justice

Date Published
Translated from French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for original. Thank you to Anne Dillon for volunteering her time to find these French articles and doing the online translating.
 

The antenna B2 Mouila, south of Gabon, has got hold of three Gabonese citizens who were about to sell six tusks whose weight was estimated at 8 kg. This is a new inquiry that reminds us sufficiently that Gabon will fight for a long time to save the elephant and the leopard on its territory.

 
Jules Mougoula Mougoula, Rodrigue Jean Jules Pambou Mouedi, and François Xavier Magnaga Nzigou were finally caught thanks to the collaboration between the intelligence services of B2, provincial services of Water and Forests, and Conservation Justice. After several days of stalking, the future of the three men who were preparing to sell their six tusks of ivory contained in a sheet will have to continue in the jails of the central prison in Mouila.
 
The operation took place Sunday, November 8, in the capital of the province of Ngounié. The three men who had left Mandji at dawn aboard a Toyota Hilux vehicle found themselves face to face with OPJs in charge of the investigation. 
 
In custody Sunday, they were presented to the public prosecutor on Tuesday. The three friends now know they face up to six months in prison and fines of 1,000,000 CFA. 
 
Low deterrent penalties exist, yet Gabon is one of the most committed countries in favor of endangered species, and one of the nations where poaching and trafficking of these endangered species continues to be exercised without great fear. When the COP21 starts its work in Paris, 
 
Gabon is one of the first countries to submit its climate plan, but must take the measure of its responsibilities and adopt laws more deterrent to potential poachers and traffickers.