Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesThanks to scanners funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Ugandan Revenue Authority has made one of the largest seizures of wildlife contraband the country has ever seen.
Customs officers in the Northern Ugandan town of Elegu, on the border with South Sudan, seized an estimated 750 pieces of ivory and thousands of pangolin scales, which have a street value of more than £6 million. This enabled a security operation culminating in the arrest of two suspected Vietnamese smugglers.
The scanners – funded through UK aid and Trade Mark East Africa – uncovered three containers holding the illegal wildlife goods, which the Ugandan Tax Authority estimates killed at least 325 elephants, and thousands of pangolins.
The technology, known as ‘mobile non-intrusive inspection scanners’, were able to show how logs had been hollowed out and filled with the illegal wildlife goods. The smugglers poured wax inside to make the logs appear hollow and resealed them.
The scanners act like x-rays and mean that customs officers don’t physically have to open up vehicles to search inside. Aside from tackling the illegal wildlife trade, they can also help stop other illicit items from crossing borders.
“This seizure is another example of how UK aid is helping countries to crack down on the illegal ivory trade. Wildlife crime robs communities of their natural resources and livelihoods while deepening poverty and inequality. The UK Government will continue working with our African partners to tackle the underlying issues driving this trade,” said Harriett Baldwin, Minister of State for Africa.
Elephants are one of the most poached mammals for their tusks, but Pangolins (Olugave) are even more sort after for their scales which hold medicinal value in parts of Asia.
Original source: DFID
Published on 12 February 2019