Northern Bahr el Ghazal’s Wildlife Conservation Department has announced that they arrested a trader with ivory pieces in Aweil as well as a trader with rhino horns.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday, the State Director for Wildlife Conservation Major General Emilio Aleu confirmed that they arrested a South Sudanese trader in Aweil accused of selling ivory pieces. He said the accused possessed forged documents saying that he was given approval by the government of neighboring Warap State to trade the item in the region.
“The problem is that a person by the name Deng Marial Agim came with two elephant tusks and we heard that he came here and sold them to one of the traders. We have arrested him and asked him to bring us the trader but he said he has run away. He is now under detention and we have seized all his documents,” said Emilio.
Separately, a Sudanese trader was arrested in Warawar in Aweil East County after he was found having rhinos horn on his way to Sudan. The wildlife service confiscated the pieces of rhino horn and sent the Sudanese trader away empty-handed.
“We have seized pieces of rhino horn from one of the traders in Warawar, Northern Bahr El Ghazal. It’s a small piece and we have put it in our stores,” he said.
He said the Sudanese trader has been released and they could not put him in prison because there is are peace initiatives going on with neighboring tribes of Sudan. “We freed him for the sake of peace,” he said.
The wildlife official noted that since 2013 no one has been given licenses to trade in ivory or rhino horn. “We in wildlife know that since 2013 there is no authorization for any person to obtain rhino horns or elephant tusks, this is prohibited by the law.”
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