Zanzibar. A 40-foot container filled with
elephant tusks hidden in plastic bags was seized here yesterday. The
ivory haul was reported to be destined for China. This development comes
just a few days after some 797 tusks were seized in three raids. This
means about 400 elephants were slaughtered for their tusks.
Details made available to The Citizen indicate
that the container was seized at Malindi Port by police, the Zanzibar
Anti-Smuggling Unit and the Tanzania Intelligence Service after a
tip-off.
Zanzibar Police Commissioner Musa Ali Musa told
The Citizen the tusks were packed in 50-kilogramme plastic bags. To
conceal their load, the smugglers packed sea shells in some plastic bags
and placed them carefully at the main entrance to the container.
According to Mr Musa, the container was brought to
Malindi port ready for export by a clearing and forwarding agent. He
declined to name the agent. Police have reportedly launched an
investigation to identify the owner of the cargo and the ship that
ferried the cargo.
Police in Zanzibar did not give the street value
of the consignment, saying an investigation was underway to establish
the owners of the seized cargo.
Mr Musa said police and other government officials
were unloading the cargo to determine the number of tusks. He added:
“All I can tell you is that we have launched investigations, but I can’t
go into details such as revealing the name of the agent (clearing and
forwarding). In doing so, I might interfere with the investigation
process.”
Tourism and Natural Resources Minister Khamis
Kagasheki urged those who have information on the smuggling network to
come forward and tell the authorities what they know in order to curb
the illegal trade.
Zanzibar’s Minister in the President’s office
(Special Forces), Mr Haji Omar Omar Kheir, said the Zanzibar government
would consult with the Mainland team on the trial of the culprits.
“We don’t have a Natural Resource Act so we will
sit with our counterparts on the mainland to decide whether the trials
will take place there or in the Isles using the anti-economic sabotage
laws,” Mr Kheir added.
The seizure of the container comes a few days
after the government suspended the anti-poaching campaign amid reports
of human rights violations by officers engaged in the campaign.
For about two months before the operation was
called off, the police, military and wildlife officials carried out a
joint operation against poachers amid a surge of killings of elephants
and rhinos.
Last year, Parliament was told poaching was out of
control with an average of 30 elephants being killed for their ivory
every day. In August 2011, Tanzanian authorities seized more than 1,000
elephant tusks hidden in sacks of dried fish at Zanzibar port that were
destined for Malaysia.
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