Public Prosecutor in Niassa wants to know how Mozambican ivory tips ended up in Cambodia

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Public Prosecutor in Niassa wants to know how Mozambican ivory tips ended up in Cambodia

1:28 CAT | 24 Nov 2017

An ivory statue, right, lies on top of pyres of ivory as they are set on fire in Nairobi National Park, Kenya Saturday, April 30, 2016. Kenya's president Saturday set fire to 105 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn, believed to be the largest stockpile ever destroyed, in a dramatic statement against the trade in ivory and products from endangered species. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) APTOPIX Kenya Ivory Burning

File photo / For illustration purposes only

The provincial prosecutor of Niassa in northern Mozambique wants to know how 105 ivory tusks disappeared from the Criminal Investigation Services and were later found in Cambodia.

The ivory had been seized in operations against poachers, mainly in the Niassa Reserve, and was stored with the Provincial Criminal Investigation and Forest and Wildlife Services, but disappeared – exactly how is not known.

The provincial prosecutor of Niassa has filed charges against those suspected of being responsible for their disappearance, who in the opinion of the institution’s spokesman, Francisco Albano, “may be members of organised crime.”

The Cambodian authorities announced the seizure of approximately 1,300 kg of ivory from Mozambique, in what is considered the biggest seizure ever in that country.

Also Read: Ivory seized in Cambodia is from elephants slaughtered in Mozambique

The Director of Protection and Inspection, Carlos Lopes Pereira, said the trafficking of ivory and other poaching products, particularly to Asian countries, was particularly worrying.

Environmentalists say that the killing of elephants in Mozambique is reaching alarming levels, and left unchecked could result in the localised eradication of the species.

Source: Voa Portugues