CI-NEWS

Ghanaian parrot trafficker in court.

2019-09-06

No: 445

The trial against a notorious parrot trafficker of Ghanaian nationality who was arrested in Kienke in May 29, 2019 by customs, resumes at the Kribi Court of First Instance on September 9, 2019. The trial that was adjourned because of the August 12 Muslim feast is expected to begin in earnest when parties shall argue in favour of their claims. Dramani Ousmane, was found in possession of over 20 African grey parrots, stuffed in a tiny little cage and ready for transport. The illicit possession of protected wildlife species is a punishable under the wildlife law.

It should be noted that the suspect was arrested in Kienke, in the Ocean Division during an operation that was carried out in collaboration with the gendarmerie. 44-year-old Ousmane had on two other occasions been arrested for illegal possession of African grey parrots, an illicit business which seems to be his speciality.

According to Customs Lieutenant. Mbarga Beyala, the chef of customs mobile brigade in Kribi who made the arrest, the operation was planned and executed thanks to vital information on the capture and trafficking of African grey parrots in the Lukoundje Subdivision by a group of poachers and traffickers. He then proceeded to assembling a team comprising gendarmes and customs officers who investigated the tip and carried out the operation.

This was the third time the 44-year-old suspect was arrested for parrot trafficking. In 2015 he was first arrested in Kribi with a consignment of African grey parrots, charged but released. He was again arrested with an accomplice in Yaounde in March 2017 with over 200 parrots, charged and taken to the Mfou Court of First Instance but was released while the case was still in process. The parrots had been caged and were just about to be taken to the Nsimalen airport when wildlife officials arrived at the hideout and stopped the two.

A couple of hours before the 2017 arrest, some 100 parrots had just been smuggled to Ghana through the Nsimalen airport passing through Abidjan in an Accra borne flight. A follow-up investigation linking the three countries was carried out and the illicit cargo was seized with one person arrested at the Kotoka International Airport in Ghana. With the technical assistance of LAGA, Ousmane and an accomplice were arrested with over 200 parrots seized.

He is presently held behind bars to appear in court on September 9 and the case is followed closely by LAGA that provides technical assistance to officials involved in the prosecution process. This assistance falls within the framework of a protocol agreement signed between the organization and the customs department and also a longstanding Memorandum of Understanding signed between the organization and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife. In accordance with the procedure involved in the prosecution of such offences, the case file was transferred to wildlife officials after the arrest.

The trafficker is suspected to be connected to a group trafficking parrots from Cameroon to Europe, Asia and several other countries for several years now. Their activity is decimating large numbers of the country’s highly valued African grey parrots. Cameroon is an important range country for this species that is considered to be one of the most intelligent birds in the world.

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Ghanaian parrot trafficker in court.