Suspected elephant poachers arrested in Mozambique

Conservation and law enforcement officials in Mozambique are celebrating the arrest of six alleged elephant poachers suspected of killing 39 elephants this year alone.

Suspected elephant poachers arrested in Mozambique
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The raid that netted the suspects was the culmination of a 10-month investigation, and was carried out in Mozambique’s Niassa National Reserve (NNR) by the Mecula District police, the Luwire scouts, and Niassa National Reserve Wildlife Conservation Society scouts.

The raid confiscated 12 elephant tusks and two rifles, along with other poaching tools, said the international Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in a statement. Two of the tusks reportedly weighed 23 kilograms each and were from an elephant estimated to be about 40-years old. The total value of the 12 tusks was estimated at well over US$150 000 (R1,63 million).

The arrest of the six suspected elephant poachers was “a major crackdown on one of five well-organised groups suspected of poaching elephants in Niassa,” said the WCS

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“This work on the ground is part of a three-part strategy to stop the killing of elephants and stop the trafficking and demand for ivory. To solve this crisis, we need to focus efforts in Africa and on the other end of the supply chain in places such as China and the US,” said WCS president Cristián Samper, who praised the teamwork that led to the arrests.

Situated in northern Mozambique, the NNR is currently home to an estimated 13 000 elephants – the country’s largest remaining elephant population, according to the WCS.

Some 30 000 to 38 000 African elephants were currently being poached annually for their ivory, said SOS Elephants. While up to 10 million elephants roamed the continent in the 1930s, there were now only about 300 000 left.