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Ex finance minister’s son in court for ivory trafficking.
The son of a former finance minister who was arrested alongside four others for trafficking in wildlife products is expected at the Ekounou Court of First Instance on Thursday October 17, 2019. They were arrested during attempts at trafficking two ivory tusks at the Omnisport neighbourhood in Yaounde. A team comprising wildlife officials and gendarmes did the arrest with the technical assistance of an international NGO called LAGA.
This is the second hearing of the case which is expected to get the court procedure going in earnest. According to reports following the arrest, the former finance minister’s son used his black Toyota Prado car, accompanied by his accomplices to the Omnisport neighourhood where they were just about to offload the ivory from the trunk of the car when gendarmes and wildlife officials swooped in and arrested all five.
The trafficking of elephant parts is totally prohibited and the animal is ranked in class A reserved for totally protected wildlife species and according to the wildlife law governing the sector. The law stipulates that anyone who is found in possession of any part of a protected wildlife species is considered to have killed the animal and is liable to a prison term of maximum 3 years and or a fine of up to 10 million FCFA. The two ivory tusks were unusually big and weighed over 50kg indicating they were cut from a big elephant, something which is not very common today. Elephant tusks weighing over 20kg are difficult to find nowadays because of intense trafficking in the sub region.
Like the rush for gold in America in the 19th Century, today’s quest for wildlife resources in Central Africa is fraught with problems of lawlessness. But the government of Cameroon, acting through her Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, is now in a renewed alert mode to track down and sanction all those involved in the illegal ivory trade in particular and products of other protected wildlife species in general. The government is giving no room for traffickers to deplete her wildlife heritage.