Uganda: 100 Pieces of Ivory Seized in Sack
Gerald Tenywa
7 May 2009

Kampala — ONE hundred pieces of ivory concealed in a sack containing matooke have been intercepted between Masaka and Kampala.

Stephen Kimpwedde, a Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) customs enforcement supervisor, said the sack also contained new plastic bags. It was among 10 sacks of matooke on a bus from DR Congo.

Kimpwedde said the bus entered Uganda through Bwera border post in Kasese district on the way to Kampala on April 30.

"It was difficult to identify the owner of the ivory because the bus operators were duped into thinking that the sack was containing bananas and there were many passengers carrying bananas," said Kimpwedde.

"We suspect that the owner of the ivory denied the bag the moment queries were raised by the revenue officers."

He said the officials found the ivory while on a routine check. "We asked the driver to open the baggage chamber. I instructed one of the soldiers to push a metal wire through each sack to ascertain that no other goods were concealed in the matooke.

The wire failed to pass through one of the sacks so we decided to open it," Vincent Kamugisha, the head of the Masaka URA enforcement team said.

The banana fingers were neatly arranged on top, around the sides and bottom of the sack. A smaller sack containing banned polythene bags (buveera) was in the centre of the sack.


"We initially thought we had recovered only the buveera and took the sack to the regional office. We opened the bag and found 35kg of ivory neatly arranged between the buveera and matooke fingers at the bottom of the sack," Kamugisha said.

Trade in ivory is banned globally to save elephants, which are listed among the species facing extinction.

Congo elephants are being hunted down for their ivory that is on demand for making ornaments.

This is the second consignment of ivory impounded this year. In both cases, the ivory was traced back to DR Congo.

The impounded ivory, now at the Nakawa URA headquarters, will be handed over to the Uganda Wildlife Authority.