Two with elephant tusks arrested in Kwale County

DCI detectives, working jointly with KWS officers, on July 11, 2019 arrested these two suspects in Kwale County and confiscated four pieces of elephant tusks. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • KWS officers from Mombasa and the detectives got a tip-off from members of the public.
  • The arrests come amid increased cases of human-wildlife conflict in the county.

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), working jointly with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers, have arrested two suspects and confiscated four pieces of elephant tusks.

The tusks weighing 82kgs were found in Silaloni village, Samburu Sub-County in Kwale County on Thursday.

The two suspects, Hussein Wanjala, 57, and Stephen Riziki, 20, were intercepted after the DCI officers together with the KWS officers posed as potential buyers.

The team of KWS officers from Mombasa and the detectives got a tip-off from members of the public and arrested the suspects.

"The detectives, posing as buyers working jointly with KWS officers and acting on a tip-off, arrested two suspects and recovered 82kgs of elephant tusks," read a tweet from the DCI.

The arrests come amid increased cases of human-wildlife conflict in the county.