Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials Sunday evening nabbed two suspects among them an administration police officer with two elephant tusks priced at Sh6.2 million in Narok County. The suspects were arrested at Ilkerin Loita area in the outskirts of the world-famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve.
Narok North Deputy OCPD Paul Cheruiyot said the two were arrested after members of the public alerted KWS officers who then posed as potential buyers before arresting the suspects with the 62 Kgs of ivory.
The suspects were due to appear in court on Monday. Cheruiyot appealed to members of the public be help stop poaching activities by reporting suspected poachers to the authorities.
The arrests were made amid an unprecedented surge in poaching over the past two years.
Previously, KWS officers recovered 84kgs of ivory priced at an estimated Sh8.4 million and apprehended one suspect, 43 year old Daniel Muchemi Karanja, at Majengo area in Narok town.
According to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), so far this year 200 elephants have been killed across the country with 47 of them being killed at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve.
KWS also reports that in the early 1970s the elephant population stood at an estimated 167,000, but in just five decades, it has plummeted to slightly more than 35,000.
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