Three nabbed with Sh200,000 elephant tusks
Elephant tusks that were impounded by police in Meru and three suspects arrested on June 23,2022.
Police in Meru are holding three suspected poachers who were arrested while transporting two elephant tusks worth about Sh200,000.
The trio, aged 19, 23 and 24, were found ferrying the tusks cut into four pieces at the Tharaka stage, near Gakoromone market on Thursday.
Imenti North sub-county Police Commander Alexander Makau said they had received information that the suspects had the items and would be transporting them to an unknown destination.
In the 4 am incident, police on patrol intercepted the young men with the tusks in a gunny bag that had been placed inside a rack sack.
Mr Makau said the tusks weighed about five kilogrammes and were about three feet in length.
The officer said there were many cases of poaching linked to a syndicate in Meru and Isiolo “that kept absorbing stolen tusks and sustaining the poaching cartels”.
Cases of elephants straying onto human settlements in Meru are also on the increase due to a prolonged dry spell in their habitat.
“We have reduced Meru town into a village and can detect crime …. It was previously reported that we had ivory tusks within our area and we moved fast to arrest the suspects. We are serious on this issue,” said Mr Makau.
He said the suspects would be arraigned on Friday.
