Kenya-3 charged with illegal ivory possession/armed poacher killed in shootout

24 January 2009, 23:55

Three charged with illegal possession of ivory
Written By:Claire Wanja , Posted: Fri, Jan 23, 2009

Three Chinese men were Friday charged with illegal possession of government trophies at Makadara law courts.

The suspects were seized with the illegal ivory at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport on Thursday.

Yu Zhong, Zhngle Chen and Liu Songlu, who were all travelling to different destinations in China, were also found with lion teeth, ivory bracelets and necklaces.

Kenya Wildlife Service sniffer dogs stationed at the international airport detected two processed ivory carvings weighing 2.5 kg and one necklace concealed in a bag at 10am.

The second suspect was seized by Customs officials at 2.30pm with two necklaces, four lion teeth and four bracelets while the third one was arrested at 10 pm with 380g of carved ivory.

Two of the suspects were travelling from Kenya while the third was from Uganda.

On Thursday, an armed poacher was killed in Tsavo East National Park during a shootout with KWS rangers but his accomplice escaped.

A statement from the wildlife service said the two were hiding at an animal watering point between Umbi airstrip and Shimo la Shetani, 60 km from the border with Kitui District.

A G3 rifle, 17 bullets, a bundle of snares, bows and poisoned arrows were recovered.