Three suspected poachers were arrested over the weekend while transporting two pieces of elephant tusks weighing 60 kilograms in Nkubu, Meru County.
Police and Kenya Wildlife Service officials
said the tusks were valued at Sh6 million.
This followed a joint security operation in the Kigene area of Nkubu Township.
The three were transporting the tusks in a
salon car and had concealed the cargo in a sack.
Police said the operation was staged at night on April 11, 2025. The team is pursuing more suspects in the ring.
They want to establish the source of the tusks. An elephant is believed to have been killed at the nearby Meru National Park.
The three are expected in court to face charges of being in Possession of Wildlife Trophies of Endangered Species Contrary to Section 92(4) of the Wildlife Conservation Management Act 2013.
The seizure occurred despite stringent measures and a campaign to address
the menace of poaching in the country and region.
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 that despite a ban on the international ivory trade, 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 tons of elephant ivory and 1.35 tones 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 horns.
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.
