Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican police yesterday announced the arrest of a 46-year-old man in possession of three elephant tusks, the result of poaching, which he was attempting to sell.
The man was arrested in the city of Beira on Friday of last week (18-11).
According to provincial police spokesman Alfeu Sitoe, he had kept the tusks hidden for six years.
The tusks were reportedly stored on the premises of the logging company where the detainee worked as a security guard, and he had kept them when the business went bankrupt, waiting for time to pass so as not to arouse suspicion, Sitoe said.
Police says they are trying to identify any other parties involved in the case.
Meanwhile, the detainee told Miramar in the report below, that he was contacted by a man who kept talking him into selling the tusks which he had kept in case his employees would return and want them back. He says that , on the day he finally decided to sell, that man took him to a location and handed him to the police. “He insisted a lot, especially in recent times. We ended up taking that [the tusks] to sell. When we arrived in the place he handed me to the Sernic”.
Poaching in Mozambique poses a serious threat to wildlife, but authorities estimate that the slaughter of elephants for their tusks has declined in recent years as a result of enforcement and conservation efforts.
According to data from the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), Mozambique has a population of around 10,000 elephants.
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