On June 3, a man was arrested at the Bangui Mpoko Airport in the Central African Republic for transporting ivory illegally. This was the second case of ivory smuggling in Bangui in a week.
The arrested man is a citizen of the Central African Republic without any identity document on him despite his intention to travel abroad. The police confiscated several suitcases filled to the brim with ivory from him. After being interrogated by the airport police officers, the man admitted to having wanted to transport the ivory out of the country, which constitutes a serious offence.
Upon interrogation by the police, he said, “I have a friend who worked with the Indonesian contingent of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Central African Republic. I saw him buying ivory. I served as an interpreter between my Indonesian friend and an ivory seller who only spoke Sango. When the Indonesian returned to his country, he sent money to me to buy him ivory because I wanted to travel to Indonesia, too.
When I arrived at the airport, I was arrested for lack of documents. Now I am in the hands of the police.” Ivory is a precious material oftentimes smuggled to be sold illegally for large sums of money. Its production and sales were officially banned across the world in 1989. Despite the ban, ivory remains one of the most widespread objects of illicit trafficking.
