Ugandan authorities have seized a ton of illegal ivory and arrested three West Africans they believe were plotting to ship it abroad.
Gessa Simplicious, a spokesman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, says the seizure happened late Friday at an “opulent, expansive house” in a suburb of the capital, Kampala.He says a Liberian and two Guinea-Bissau nationals were arrested for possessing the ivory.
According to investigations made so far, the ivory was most likely had been imported from neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and Congo because it had markings not familiar to Ugandan authorities.
Uganda has about 5,600 elephants still left the wild.
African governments are struggling to curb the illegal trade in ivory, which is treasured as a status symbol in China.
China plans to shut down its ivory trade by the end of 2017.
