A man identified as pastor of a Pentecostal Christian congregation has been arrested alongside two others for wildlife trafficking. The trio were in possession of sell six elephant tusks and were attempting to sell them at the time of their arrest in the nation’s capital, Yaounde on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, sources disclosed.
The arrest took place during a crackdown operation carried out by wildlife officials of the Center Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife in collaboration with the Regional Delegation of the Judicial Police.
The suspected traffickers concealed the six elephant tusks in a flour sack in a taxi at the Emana neighborhood in the Yaounde I municipality. They had hired the taxi that took them to the venue of the transaction shortly before their arrest. The Last Great Ape Organisation also known as LAGA technically assisted during the operation.
They were swiftly marched off to the wildlife office for interrogation and further investigations. According to the investigators, the pastor was the mastermind of the ring and got the tusks from a former magistrate whose family worships at the Pentecostal Church. One of the suspects, a close neighbour to the church also played the role of middleman and salesman, according to the findings of detectives.
Over the last two decades, 3,004 illegal elephants have been killed according to the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants program in view of safeguarding African savanna elephants. In the same line, more than 95% of African forest elephants have been lost with less than 2,000 remaining as stated by Global Conservation.
Elephants are the world’s largest land animal and play an important role as gardener of the forest helping maintain forest and savanna ecosystem for other species. However, the elephant faces too many threats including poaching that fuels ivory trade.
The government, through the 2024 wildlife law is intensifying efforts to clamp down on illegal ivory trade thus, elephants are totally protected in the country.
The three may face an imprisonment terms of up to 20 years and or pay a fine of up to FCFA 50 million if found guilty according to the provisions of the 2024 wildlife law.
