Elephant bone traffickers nabbed in Mamfe

Wild life officials in Mamfe arrested 5 people for illegal possession, circulation and detention of parts of protected wild life species.

The arrested took place when the said individuals attempted selling the elephant and chimpanzee bones in Mamfe.

It was carried out by officials of the Manyu Divisional Delegation of forestry and wildlife working in collaboration with the gendarmerie with assistance from a conservation group known as LAGA.

The five dealers who had transported the bones from two localities close to Mamfe were suspected to have bought the parts from poachers around the Korup national park where an elephant was recently shot dead.

According to Fortindong Ferdinand, the conservator of the park, “we recently had information that an elephant had been shot, we spent two days trying to locate where the elephant was killed but unfortunately we could not find it."

According to the 1994 wild life law; any one found in possession of parts of a protected species is considered to have killed the animal and is liable to a prison sentence of up to 3 years and a fine of close to 10 million FCFA.

The law was enacted to protect wild life poaching and trafficking because many see these two factors as though they were responsible for the dwindling state of wild life resources which is not only traded illegally in the country, but it is equally traded across the boundaries.

The south west region is considered as one of the prime exits used by traffickers who smuggle wild life out of the Central Africa sub-region to West Africa.

In 2009, wild life officials intercepted 1 ton of ivory in Douala which was heading for Nigeria through the south west region.

Mamfe which is one of the Gateways to Nigeria is just one of the exit points in the region that is witnessing numerous cases of poaching and trafficking because of the pivotal importance of the Nigeria transit zone and the huge demand for wild life products in the neighbouring countries.