The trafficker in his silver suit and a “prince-like” look with all the elephant parts, probably lost his smug look September 2, as he was sentenced to three years in prison – the maximum sentence for a wildlife crime in Cameroon.
Effiam Peter Effiong was arrested alongside Nwese Solomon Nwese, a corporal with Cameroon’s marine marchande corps on June 17, 2013 in the southwest of the country during their attempts at selling over 100 elephant bones.
The two ferried the bones from deep inside the Korup National Park that has Africa’s oldest and most diversified rain forest, to a hotel room in a town close to the park. The first consignment of bones arrived at about midnight in the town where it was carefully hidden. The second consignment followed at 4:30 am and the last at 8:30 am on June 17, 2014. The bones were then regrouped and parked inside a hotel room from where they proceeded with business.
With the demeanor of rich businessmen, they would proceed with diligence and calm but this quickly gave way to panicking and attempts at escaping when wildlife officials stormed their hotel room. They had been under investigations for some time by local wildlife officials working with a conservation group called LAGA. The corporal tried to fight his way free but was quickly subdued by gendarmes.
The court’s verdict came down fiercely after just two and a half months of trial which is significantly fast for a country that has long delays in trying cases. Observers say this is appropriate because it was a flagrante delicto case. The trial of persons caught in the act of committing an offence should be quicker, they say. They were ordered to pay fines and damages of over $200 000.
By the time the court was reading off the final lines of its verdict, a similar court in the East of the country was sentencing a renowned poacher to serve a prison term of one and a half years. Atangana Jean was convicted on charges of killing protected wildlife species, possession and circulation of parts of protected wildlife species. The court ruling came after a 9-month long trial during which time he stayed behind bars from the moment of his arrest.
The court equally ordered the convicted trafficker to pay over $2000 as damages. Atangana Jean aka Samedi, is a repeat offender who was arrested last January while trying to traffic ivory and elephant meat alongside two other accomplices who were later released by the state prosecutor handling the case.
This is not the first time he is facing the law for a similar offence. A court had handed him a 6-month jail term earlier before. During his interrogation, he would confess to have killed 12 elephants in the Nki National Park.
The persecutions fall within Cameroon’s government longstanding initiative to crackdown on the illegal wildlife trade that conservationists say is responsible for the dwindling numbers of wildlife species in the country. Since 2003, the government has been working with some conservation partners to properly enforce its wildlife law.
To date, hundreds of wildlife traffickers have been brought to book and the maximum sentence given in the first case is of significance because the judge fully applied the law.
The country has for some time now been playing a leading role in the domain of wildlife law enforcement on the continent and its successful model is now being implemented in 8 other African countries.
