Monday, 3 February 2014
Togo gets tough on ivory smugglers
In the past week alone, nearly four tons of
ivory have been discovered at the tiny West African nation's main port
in the capital, Lome, following other large seizures last year.
The discoveries came after African and Asian
nations pledged last month to introduce urgent measures to tackle the
illegal ivory trade, from the slaughter of elephants to the trafficking
of tusks.
The meeting in Botswana in December agreed to
implement a “zero tolerance” approach to wildlife crime and
international co-operation to shut down criminal gangs involved in the
practice.
On January 23, nearly 1.7 tons of ivory was
found in a shipping container bound for Vietnam from Lome, while on
Thursday, a further 2.1 tons were discovered during a search of the same
shipment.
Three people have been arrested, two of them Togolese nationals and the third a Vietnamese man.
Togo's environment and forest resources
minister, Andre Johnson, told AFP: “Investigations are ongoing to
ensure that the network is completely dismantled.
“Togo has today become one of the transit countries for these shameless traffickers.”
Elephants, the world's largest land mammals,
are one of Africa's biggest tourist attractions and are found across the
continent.
But numbers have fallen from 10 million in 1900
and 1.2 million in 1980 to about 500 000 currently, according to
conservation groups.
Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 under the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES).
CITES and other animal protection groups have
warned that as many as 20 percent of the continent's elephants could
disappear within a decade if current poaching rates are not tackled.
An estimated 22 000 elephants were killed illegally in Africa in 2012, the groups said.
Demand for tusks, particularly in Asia for
decorative purposes and use in traditional medicines, has fuelled a
lucrative illicit trade thought to be worth up to $10 billion a year.
The proceeds are said to often fund militia and rebel groups.
Paul Dogboe, the head of the Togolese
environmental and animal protection group Horizon Vert, said they were
“very worried” about ivory smuggling in Africa and particularly in Togo.
Johnson blamed “well-equipped and often heavily
armed criminal networks” for the trade, adding: “Our country will not
tolerate trafficking in objects of endangered species.
“This is why we, in close collaboration with
some friendly nations including the United States, France and China, are
having a serious crackdown.
“We shall also try to harmonise our strategies with those of other countries in the region.”
A senior police officer in charge of tackling
drug-trafficking and money-laundering in Togo, Kodjo Katanga Yeleneke,
has said that “tons” of ivory have previously left Lome for Indonesia.
As a result Togo's port authorities have
increased checks on shipping containers, using specialist security
agents, forest rangers and police.
“The check on containers is very rigorous for
some time now. All the containers must be scanned before sending them
to the terminal for export,” said one port customs officer.
Agents from the country's anti-drug-trafficking
and money-laundering agency also carry out unscheduled checks in Lome,
including shops, he added.
Last August, 700kg of ivory - most of it from
Chad - was seized from a locally owned shop in Lome, while another
suspected trafficker, a Guinean, was found with 25kg of ivory.
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