Kagasheki unveils Chinese ivory haul in Dar es Salaam

 Natural Resources and Tourism minister, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, in disbelief as he looks at a pile of elephant trophies impounded at a Mikocheni house in Dar es Salaam

Kagasheki unveils Chinese ivory haul in Dar es Salaam
  Scoffs at stopping `Operation Tokomeza`

At a time when poaching has tremendously scaled up in the country, about 706 pieces of ivory, representing more than 200 tuskers killed, were found yesterday in Dar es Salam Mikocheni area at a residence of Chinese nationals.

The incredulous catch was hidden in a manner that needed informed intelligence to uncover as shells of snails mixed with garlic to fool any suspicious minds sniffing about the ivory. Even the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, and police officers at the scene were so stunned with the ingenuity of the residents, evidently agents of Far East ivory traders.

A detailed report made available to The Guardian on Sunday in past months says China is deeply implicated in the wave of killing of elephants owing to its million dollar trade in ivory products. The report authored by the Tanzania Elephant Protection Society (TEPS) said rising economic relations between China and Tanzania fuel elephant killings in the country, calling for proper government intervention.

The document underlined that though the Chinese investments were important in the country’s economy and development, this shouldn’t compromise the country’s natural wildlife conservation efforts.

The report affirmed that at the current rate of 30 elephants killed every day and 850 elephants shot every month, there is an unprecedented risk of the country’s elephant population perishing in the next seven years.

“China is the number one investor in Tanzania … but the majority of tusks exported illegally from Tanzania end up in China due to the huge demand for ivory in China,” it said, noting that Tanzania’s partnership with China risks being at the expense of Tanzania’s vital natural resources and the tourist industry,

This requires political will and strong leadership to resolve, it said, recommending that the Tanzania government “should make investment from China and other countries strictly conditional on China tackling its demand for ivory at home, and stronger law enforcement collaboration to halt the flow of ivory from Tanzania to China.”

Three Chinese, Che Jinzhan, Xu Fujie and Huang Qin, are said to use a special Noah microbus with registration number T713 BXG to transport the ivory pieces to the house.

Until this paper left the house more than 1800 kilogram of ivory pieces were found, although the police were not yet finished with counting.

Inside the house police found a weighing unit that the Chinese used in their illegal business, a number of fresh garlic onions and sacks of shells which were mixed with the ivory during transportation.

Interviewed, the Chinese said that the ivory business is owned by their friends and what they were doing was only the garlic business.

Huang Qin explaining that his friends are the one who used to bring the ivory in their home. He admitted that it is illegal business and if it was in their country they would be executed.

The bus that used to bring the product in the house uses different numbers whereby during a day the used plate number is T713 BXG but at night the number is twisted with plate number T 317 BXG.

According to the information released from the ivory storehouse, the minibus is used to conduct the operation at midnight, specifically from 1:00 am.

Briefing the media at the event, minister Kagasheki said they managed to find the ivory as a follow up to Operation Tokomeza against gangs hunting elephants with automatic rifles, all over the country.

Ambassador Kagasheki said the fight against poachers will not be achieved by suspending public officials but by joining efforts with all stakeholders, including MPs to fight the scourge.

The ivory pieces found yesterday represent a big amount as elephants are steadily diminished, he said, underlining that stopping Operation Tokomeza as MPs are proposing would see elephants cleared out from game parks in a few years.

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