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- Oct 13, 2012
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Natural Resources and Tourism minister Lazaro Nyalandu inspects seized elephant tusks in Manyoni on Wednesday. Five people were arrested in connection with the haul.
Manyoni. The anti-poaching squad in Manyoni District has seized a total of 61 elephant tusks valued at Sh176.7 million during the past seven days.
Briefing Natural Resources and Tourism minister Lazaro Nyalandu in Manyoni, some 125 kilometres from Dodoma, the head of the special task force, Mr Robert Mande, said the seizure was a result of a systematic manhunt by the team for a period of almost two months. "We embarked on a strategy to dismantle the poaching network in this area on February 1, 2014. Through the cooperation with the Anti-poaching Zonal Office for Manyoni, we managed to capture five suspects on Monday," he said.
The suspects, including a village executive officer, were found in possession of 53 elephant tusks, weighing 169.7 kilos with a market value of Sh149 million.
"To get the tusks, the suspects might have killed some 26 elephants in Rungwe, Kizingo and Mhesi Game Reserves," he said noting that in the operation, they also managed to seize a sub-machine gun and 195 rounds of ammunitions among others," he said.
In the other incident, another suspect was, on Sunday, found at Chinangali in Chamwino District, Dodoma Region, in possession of six tusks weighing a total of 31.1 kilos worth a total of Sh27.368 million.
Mr Nyalandu, who had to be excused from the ongoing Constituent Assembly (CA) meetings in Dodoma, rushed to Manyoni to congratulate the squad and assure them that the government would do everything to make sure that it succeeds in the war against poaching.
"We will make sure that everyone involved in the illegal business is punished in court," he said.
He said those captured in the operations should be thoroughly investigated so they can reveal the big ‘fish' within their network. "I'm tired of capturing these small people. I now want to capture the men behind the killings of our animals so that the world can know that we're serious in protecting wildlife," he said.
He reiterated that the government will leave no stone unturned in the fight against poaching. "We will not relent…we will not be intimidated by someone's influence in the community – whether within a political party, a religious organisation or in business," he said.
The government, he said, will employ some 450 new game rangers in the coming few days to boost the war on poaching.
In the same vein, Mr Nyalandu said plans are at advanced stages to turn the Directorate of Wildlife into an autonomous authority.
"In fact, I will be signing the documents to that effect very soon," he said.
Source;Thecitizen
