News
4 traffickers arrested with 4 elephant tusks
Gabon, 7 Apr 20234 traffickers arrested with 4 elephant tusks. Good work of Conservation Justice with the authurities.
4 traffickers arrested with 21 tusks and 13 ivory statues
Togo, 18 Mar 20234 traffickers arrested with 21 tusks and 13 ivory statues and skins of a lion and a leopard. The arrest operation seizing 167 kg ivory was a hard one as the traffickers were extremely careful. One that tried to escape was captured in a good teamwork. The contraband was concealed in 2 grains bags found inside the boot of a vehicle.
5 traffickers arrested with 4 elephant tusks
Gabon, 14 Mar 20235 traffickers arrested with 4 elephant tusks. They were arrested during their attempts at selling the elephant tusks. 4 traffickers were arrested when they arrived the scene of transaction in a car transporting the ivory. During interrogations they denounced one more trafficker who was also arrested.
A fugitive trapped and arrested to serve his 5 years sentence
Congo, 13 Mar 2023A convicted trafficker who was sentenced to 5 years in prison in April 2022 and never returned following his release on bail during the trial, was arrested. He had been evading authorities who went all the way out with the Team’s assistance to arrest him. He shall complete his full sentence in prison. This sends a strong message to traffickers that they will be pursued and the law will be applied.
Ivory trafficking and Poaching
Gabon, 9 Mar 2023A hard-hitting documentary on ConservationJustice’s work to combat ivory trafficking was launched. Maxime Ginolin, an activist and a French film maker, and his partner Guillaume Martinez, cameraman, editor and composer, released the documentary that captures the impressive fieldwork to bring down the lucrative and far-reaching illegal ivory trade and reveals the underbelly of international trafficking.
3 traffickers arrested with 11 elephant tusks
Ivory Coast, 28 Feb 20233 traffickers arrested with 11 elephant tusks. 2 of them traffickers the ivory from the west of the country collaborated with the third trafficker in Abidjan who stocked the ivory and harbored them. He equally concealed the ivory at his place and participated in the making of the deal as they were swiftly arrested while attempting to sell the elephants tusks.
A trafficker arrested with a leopard skin
Senegal, 22 Feb 2023A trafficker arrested with a leopard skin and other contraband. The Burkina Faso national is also involved in gold trafficking in Mali. He activated several cross-border trafficking networks. He was arrested with a suitcase concealing a leopard skin, serval and crocodile skins and head, and hyena skin and head
2 ivory traffickers arrested with 2 elephant tusks
Gabon, 19 Feb 20232 ivory traffickers, one a Ghana national, arrested with 2 elephant tusks. A Gabonese was arrested with 2 elephant tusks and he immediately denounced the other trafficker, a Ghanaian, who concealed the elephant tusks at his premises. The Gabonese is known to the police for the illegal trade in an endemic shrub known for its psychoactive effects and regulated by the law. A search found a good quantity of this shrub at his home. He arrived the scene of transaction by car with the ivory concealed in the boot of the vehicle.
A trafficker arrested with 2 elephant tusks
Gabon, 31 Jan 2023A trafficker arrested with 2 elephant tusks. He was arrested during an attempt to sell the tusks. He travelled some 20 km with the tusks concealed inside a polythene bag he carried. He was arrested upon arrival to town while walking to the place of transaction. 4 pieces of tusks were found inside the bag during a search that was immediately carried out. The 4 pieces of ivory were cut from 2 elephant tusks. He was remanded in custody to be transferred to Libreville where he shall be presented to the Prosecutor of the Special Court.
A trafficker arrested with 2 elephant tusks
Congo, 25 Jan 2023A trafficker arrested with 2 elephant tusks. He concealed the tusks for over a week at the residence of the grandmother of one his accomplices. He is part of a bigger network. He denounced two others who are on the run. Efforts continue to track them down and get them arrested.
A trafficker arrested in connection to the trafficking ring arrests of November
Senegal, 12 Jan 2023A trafficker arrested in connection to the trafficking ring arrests of November - this time the head of the ring got arrested after hiding in Mali. While thinking the heat has passed, he crossed the border again to renew his illegal activities, but persistence pays and he has been trapped. 2 traffickers were arrested with a leopard skin in November. On their phones were horrible images of massacred lions and elephants as well as human rights atrocities, dead human bodies, and huge stocks of automatic weapons.
3 traffickers arrested with 120 kg pangolin scales
Cameroon, 15 Dec 20223 traffickers arrested with 120 kg pangolin scales. Two of them were activating several poachers generating a regular massive killing of pangolins. One of the traffickers used his motorcycle to transport the scales. They are experienced in trafficking pangolin scales and complained that the Covid 19 pandemic hampered their activity, but they were quickly picking up where they left off before the pandemic started. The area is widely known for the illicit bushmeat trade.