Man arrested for lion skins, raw ivory possession

Court Reporter September 24, 2008


A HARARE man found himself on the wrong side of the law after he was caught allegedly dealing in raw ivory and lion skins with a combined value of more than $200 000.
Chamunorwa Chikosha (33) of 28, 10th Avenue, Warren Park in Harare, was not formally charged with contravening Section 82 of the Parks and Wildlife General Regulations when he briefly appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Singandu Jele yesterday.
He was remanded to Friday on $10 000 bail.
The prosecutor, Mr Jerry Mutsindikwa, told the court that on 14 September at about 1.30pm, Chikosha was at Benji Business Centre in Lusulu, Binga.
Police officers received information that he had raw ivory.
They approached him and found him with eight pieces of unregistered raw ivory.
The police officers also found lion skins in his luggage and requested him to produce a permit but he failed.
He was arrested and taken to a police station where the ivory was weighed. Its weight was 12 kilogrammes with its value pegged at $176 000.
The lion skins were valued at $24 000.

Just curious about what currency those figures were quited in? US$ ,Zimbabwe rand,?

Zim $! The parks trophy fees (which are in US$) are converted to zim $ at the official exchange rate for court proceedings.