4 traffickers arrested with 11 tusks

4 traffickers, including a former Deputy of National Assembly (similar to a member of congress), were arrested in a hotel in Abidjan while attempting to sell 11 tusks of elephant ivory. There were initially 6 suspects, including two officers.3 of the suspects were caught red handed in the hotel room with the tusks, while the other 3 were arrested in the hotel’s restaurant and reception.

The arrest operation was quickly disrupted by the arrival of several men armed with assault rifles and equipped with bulletproof vests. They immediately tried to intimidate the UCT (Unit against Transnational Crime) working with us in order to stop the ongoing arrest, declaring to be officers of the CCDO - a special forces mixed unit of police, gendarmes and military. They had no mission orders, nor uniform or distinctive sign to identify themselves and denied colluding with the traffickers, claiming to investigate them.

The standoff became quite heated, but the UCT stood their ground and managed to arrest 4 suspects and seize the ivory. The 2 others suspects identified themselves as members of CCDO unit and couldn’t be arrested by the UCT. The investigation is ongoing and can expose the role of these armed men, their unit and what was their goal and intention when they interfered on the scene.