“In the operation, we conducted with police, we recuperated more than 1000kg of ivory suspected smuggled from either the Democratic Republic of Congo or Tanzania.”
Uganda Wildlife Authority has seized about a ton of ivory, chopped it into little pieces, and treated it with a chemical to prevent it from being recognized, the national wildlife protection service has said.
The pull was conducted in Kampala areas over the weekend before it could be loaded at Entebbe airport and taken off to another destination, the UWA said.
Three suspects one believed to be a Liberian and two from Guinea Bissau have been captured in Kampala, UWA spokesman Simplicious Gessa told AFP.
The authorities suspect the smuggling network goes past the three in custody “including shipping agents and different officials as the committal was suspected to be going through Entebbe International Airport”
The smuggler may have utilized Uganda “because our laws are somewhat lax on trafficking”, calling for harsher laws against wildlife traffickers “so that Uganda is not used as a smuggling route”.
Over 30,000 African elephants are unlawfully killed every year for their ivory tusks, primarily to satisfy demand in the Asian market for products converted as traditional medicine or as status symbols.
Uganda is a main transit nation for the unlawful wildlife trade, particularly from Congo’s huge jungles.
