Patrick Jimmy Okema, the Aswa River Region Police spokesperson, says the suspects are being investigated under SD 28/07/03/2019 of Elegu Police Station. He says they will be charged with illegal possession of protected species once investigations are complete.
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Ivory Seized From Poachers in Murchison Falls National Park by Rangers of Uganda Wildlife Authority
Police have recovered a piece of ivory weighing 30 Kilograms from
three suspected poachers in Elegu Township in Amuru district.
The suspected
poachers are Muzamil Hamuza, 31, Ali Magidu, 32 and Govile Nuru 44.
They were picked up from Loriko West Village in Elegu Town
Council on March 7th, 2019.
Patrick Jimmy Okema, the Aswa River
Region Police spokesperson, says the suspects are being investigated under SD
28/07/03/2019 of Elegu Police Station. He says they will be charged with
illegal possession of protected species once investigations are complete.
Elegu Town Council is located Eastward in the proximity of an active historical
elephant migration corridor between Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda and
the South Sudan.
It is unclear how the suspects obtained the ivory but
the conflict in South Sudan has exacerbated poaching and trafficking in
wildlife between Uganda and South Sudan.
Uganda Wildlife Authority says most of the wildlife products seized in transit
originate from neighboring countries in the great lakes region such as the
Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan where
different rebel groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) engage in
poaching.
It says Uganda is used as a conduit to markets in the Middle East and
Asia.
Peter Labeja
Guest