Some of the seized elephant tusks/HANDOUT
Two suspects who were ferrying 15 pieces of elephant tusks escaped and abandoned the cargo as security agents approached their hideout in Lungalunga, Kwale County.
Police and Kenya Wildlife Service officials said the two are believed to have fetched the tusks from the neighbouring Tanzania for a market in Kenya.
The recovery was made on Saturday, January 11, and police, alongside KWS officials, put the value of the same at Sh10.6 million. The tusks included 13 full ones and two others that had been cut into pieces, police said.
A motorcycle bearing Tanzania registration numbers is said to have ferried the cargo to the Sokomoko area when the team struck. Police said the tusks and the motorcycle were detained at the local police station pending further probe. A hunt on the suspects who escaped is ongoing, police said.
Elephant tusks fetch a fortune in the black market as a surge in demand for ivory in the East continues to fuel the illicit trade in elephant tusks, especially from Africa.
The illegal ivory trade is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhino horns are used to make ornaments and traditional medicines. Officials say despite a ban on the international trade in ivory, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers.
As part of efforts to stop the menace, Kenya has started using high-tech surveillance equipment, including drones, to track poachers and keep tabs on elephants and rhinos. KWS and stakeholders have put in place mechanisms to eradicate all forms of wildlife crime, particularly poaching.
These mechanisms include enhanced community education, interagency collaboration, and intensive intelligence-led operations, among others.
These efforts led to zero rhino poaching in Kenya in 2020—the first time in about two decades.
On April 30, 2016, Kenya set ablaze 105 tonnes of elephant ivory and 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn. Former President Uhuru Kenyatta led world leaders and conservationists in burning the remains of 6,500 elephants and 450 rhinos killed for their tusks and horn.
Parliament has also passed strict anti-poaching laws and the government has beefed up security at parks to stop poaching, which threatens the vital tourism industry.
Regionally, Kenya has also emerged as a major transit route for ivory destined for Asian markets from eastern and central Africa.
