KISORO – Police in Kisoro has in detention a 30-year-old man after he was found in possession of wildlife species to wit elephant Ivory.
Munyaribanje Richard, a resident of Bunagana T/Council Kisoro district was arrested on Wednesday after a tip-off by some residents at Bunagana.
The Elephant Ivory weighed 43kgs.
Elly Maate, the Kigezi regional media boss says inquiries to establish how and where Munyaribanje got this ivory are underway at Kisoro police station vide SD 64/20/11/2019.
“We have already started interrogation into his case to really understand how he got the species and the chain on which he operates within this illicit business,” Mr Maate said.
In January 2019, Uganda authorities seized 750 pieces of ivory and thousands of pangolin scales being smuggled from neighboring South Sudan in one of the largest seizures of wildlife contraband in the East African country.
Two Vietnamese were arrested over the contraband that had been concealed inside pieces of timber carried by three freight containers, the Uganda Revenue Authority said.
There are around 5,000 elephants in Uganda today with a very low reproduction rate (one calf per female every 8.6 years).
Elephant populations recover more slowly than many other animals, with a maximum annual population growth of about 6%.
