Three seized on suspicion of planning poaching expedition
Police in Narok on Tuesday arrested three people who are suspected to have been on their way to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve to poach game.
One of the suspects is a former Kenya Wildlife Service ranger while another is of Somali origin.
Mara District Officer Samuel Mbuto said the men were arrested at a lodge at Sikinani trading centre after police were tipped-off by the owner that some armed people had booked a room.
Mr Mbuto said the men had a firearm, an axe, two hacksaws and night vision binoculars.
He said Administration Police officers and Narok county rangers raided the lodge and arrested them.
“The three checked in on Friday and asked for services at the bar and butchery but they never left the room. We raided the place after a tip-off,” said Mr Mbuto.
The former KWS ranger was sacked after he was arrested for poaching elephants in the world famous reserve.
“The former KWS officer jumped bond in a Nanyuki court and is under a warrant of arrest,” said Mr Mbuto.
The arrest comes as stakeholders in the wildlife sector are calling on the Government to sanction joint anti-poaching operations with other law enforcement agencies and the public in places like the Maasai Mara Game and conservancies surrounding it.
The concerns came as KWS officials announced that 162 elephants and 21 rhinos have been killed in the last seven months.
Kenya has 38,000 elephants, the fourth largest population in the world after Botswana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
