Caption: KWS Director Julius Kipngetich examines one of the seized elephant tusks.
A Chinese national seized with a hand luggage containing 10 illegal worked ivory chopping sticks and two bangles has been jailed for 18 months barely a day after the weekend seizure of 2 tonnes of ivory and five rhino horns.
This was part of two more seizures of illegal ivory from Mozambique and Uganda made at Kenya's main airport in Nairobi in a week.
On Monday an unaccompanied cargo of two pieces of carved and raw ivory weighing 3.3 kg from Kampala, Uganda destined for Hong Kong, China was intercepted at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
He has since been charged in Nairobi's Makadara Law Courts where he pleaded guilty of possession of wildlife trophy without a valid permit and for failure to report to Kenya Wildlife.
He was jailed 18 months jail without the option of a fine for the first count and fined Sh10,000 or 12 months imprisonment for the second count.
Kenya Wildlife Service and regional wildlife group Lusaka Agreement Task Force are in the process of contacting the Uganda Wildlife Authorities to help with investigation on the source of the contraband and how it slipped through the Entebbe Airport unnoticed.
One of the suspects in the seizure of 317 pieces of raw elephant ivory weighing 2 tonnes and five rhino horns at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was charged in the same Nairobi court on Tuesday.
He denied the charges of failing to report illegal government trophies and was granted cash bail of Sh300, 000 or bond of Sh500, 000 and surerities in the same amount.
The main owner of the consignment is till on the run. Investigators are following up on the vehicle that transported the contraband and its driver and other occupants.
The second suspect, who was an employee of a freight company, was released after interrogation.
Investigations are continuing over the source and sender and recipient of the illegal cargo, which had been disguised as only avocado fruits.
Most of the tusks seem to have been collected from natural deaths of about 150 elephants over the last 20 years with the latest likely to be six months old.
The cargo which was falsely declared as containing only fresh avocado fruits was packed in 12 wooden boxes which raised a red flag due to its mode of package, weight and destination.
The seizure is so far the largest elephant ivory recovery in Kenya in the recent past.
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