The Nigeria Customs Service has reported that three men have been apprehended in Adamawa State for illicit transboundary wildlife trading in elephant ivory and pangolin scales and claws, two of Nigeria’s endangered wild creatures.
According to the Customs, one of the suspects was seized in Jimeta, Yola, with four sacks of ivory weighing 89kg, while two other suspects were apprehended in Sangere, Girei Local Government Area, with five sacks of pangolin scales and claws worth 216kg.
According to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the arrests were made last month.
“This is the first known arrest of wildlife traffickers of endangered animals in the transboundary region. All three suspects are currently facing prosecution by the Nigeria Customs Service,” the WCS said.
The arrests were made possible, the conservation group said, thanks to the training and education it provided to members of the Nigeria Customs Service and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency about the illegality of transboundary wildlife trade between Cameroon and Nigeria.
The UK Biodiversity Challenge Fund, it stated, sponsored the training.
Wildlife Conservation Society’s Counter Wildlife Trafficking Adviser Elisha Bello expressed WCS’s delight at the NCS’s successful arrests.
