By Leocadia Bongben
A wildlife law enforcement agency, Eco Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement (EAGLE), has revealed that ninety wildlife traffickers were arrested across seven African countries in 2024.
Crackdown operations in Ivory Coast, Congo, Guinea, Uganda, Senegal, Togo, and Cameroon, as part of the government-civil society collaboration, including the EAGLE network, resulted in arrests.
The arrests were related to the trafficking of protected wildlife species, including elephant tusks, leopard skins, lion skins, primates, and pangolin scales.
In total, 64 ivory traffickers were apprehended, with about 474 kg of tusks, including 67 kg of elephant tusks and 260 ivory pieces, recovered during operations in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, the Republic of Congo, and Cameroon. Thirteen large cat skin traffickers were apprehended in Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Uganda, as well as eight primate traffickers, during operations in Cameroon, Togo, and the Ivory Coast. Two more smugglers were apprehended in Congo with 81 kg of the endangered gigantic pangolin.
Four senior wildlife traffickers were detained in Ivory Coast as part of a raid on the notorious Koumassi criminal network. They were linked to two Asian criminal organizations that supplied enormous amounts of ivory tusks and pangolin scales. One of the traffickers was seized with almost 200 carved ivory objects, while the others were apprehended at their stores with more than 30 carved objects.
Three traffickers, including a warrant officer and a former army sergeant, were apprehended in Cameroon with three and a half elephant tusks. One of the military officers resisted arrest forcefully, threatening the arresting officers.
Four other traffickers were arrested in Congo with three elephant tusks in a crackdown on judicial corruption. One of them, the head clerk of the High Court of Dolisie, used his position to traffic seized ivory from the court’s evidence room, denounced by other traffickers, and a raid was conducted at his home, which led to his arrest. Marks on two tusks indicated they were seized and labeled tusks of a previous elephant tusk operation in 2021.
During a crackdown operation in Ivory Coast, four traffickers were caught near the Tai National Park, including a veteran soldier. The traffickers planned to use the proceeds from the illegal trade to fund the killing of elephants in the park. In addition to these traffickers, an ape trafficker and two others were detained with a live baby chimp and gorilla parts in Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
According to the law enforcement authority, the trafficking in wildlife-protected species, particularly elephants, is unlikely to end soon, despite government and wildlife law enforcement attempts to dissuade it.
The EAGLE network is a federation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including LAGA, that collaborate with several African governments to improve the implementation of national environmental legislation. The EAGLE network is active in Cameroon (LAGA), Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, and Uganda, where it collaborates with the respective governments to combat illegal wildlife trading.