Malawi Wildlife Officer Hurt Arresting Ivory Traffickers

By Charles Mkoka

BLANTYRE, Malawi, August 28, 2003 (ENS) - A joint operation involving Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, national wildlife officials, and the police last week raided seven houses in search of ivory in the Ntaja, Namwera and Katuli areas in the Machinga district of southern Malawi.

The raid came three weeks after a woman residing in the district was arrested and found in possession of ivory weighing 134 kilograms (295 pounds). Deputy Director of Parks and Wildlife Humphrey Nzima confirmed the details in an interview with ENS from the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Lilongwe.

The operation involved four anti-corruption officers, 20 police officers, and 20 parks and wildlife staffers who searched the areas where ivory traffickers are believed to be keeping large quantities buried underground for sale to interested people, especially foreigners.

Last week's operation was conducted cautiously as all officers are remembering how one of their fellows was seriously injured an anti-poaching exercise in Ntaja area just three weeks ago. The encounter, called one of the worst in the country's history of ivory confiscation and law enforcement, was nearly fatal for a Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) officer who has worked with the department for 20 years.

One of about 400 elephants in Liwonde National Park (Photo courtesy World Wildlife Gallery)

The exercise was conducted by Thamala, Kharika Banda, a parks and wildlife assistant, and David Bradfield, an expatriate attached to the Frankfurt Zoological Society project in the park that trains wildlife personnel in law enforcement.

In an interview with ENS, Thamala disclosed the events surrounding the most dangerous mission in his career.

The three men disguised themselves as ivory buyers from Blantyre, using a private vehicle in order to fool the suspects into revealing that they were in possession of the ivory.

The officers forced the suspected sellers to reveal their friends in the illegal business by challenging them to produce even a mere 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of ivory.

Thamala told the suspect woman that they wanted enough ivory to fill a container that they would then export to a country in southern Africa for sale. The three disguised officers demanded the ivory in bulk amounts.

Thamala said that hell broke loose after he told Akimu and her father, “We are Parks and Wildlife officers, and you are under arrest for possession of illegal ivory." While he was restraining Maria's father Blackson Akimu, he was hit several times on the head with a heavy pestle, a tool used for grinding maize.

Bradfield then shot into the air to prevent Thamala from being butchered by an oncoming panga, a large curved knife, aimed at his head.

Now out of the hospital, Thamala told ENS from the park headquarters at Chinguni, “I just heard David calling me while lying in a pool of blood after being beaten in the head from the back by a big pestle. I heard the sound of a gunshot, but since I was lying down and in the course of losing my consciousness, I could not confirm it."

Hearing the shouting, a backup team of scouts armed with M16-A1 assault rifles, who were hiding some 400 meters (435 yards) away in a vehicle, rolled into action to assist their buddies.

They rescued Thamala, who was then unconscious, and drove him some 50 kilometers (30 miles) away for medical attention. Thamala was admitted to Machinga District Hospital and diagnosed with broken blood vessels and internal bleeding. He was discharged after a week in hospital.

The accused were handed over to Liwonde police and charged with ivory possession and trading, and assault. The suspects, currently out on bail, have pleaded not guilty.

Confiscated elephant ivory (Photo courtesy TRAFFIC)

She then told the source that a certain man was keeping about a ton of ivory several kilometers away in the Namwera area near the neighboring Mangochi District.

Thamala said that some foreigners who are working on the construction of the Machinga-Ntaja road also had some ivory stored away. At one of the places used for storage of road construction equipment, known as the Kuwait CC Camp, two tusks were reportedly produced.

Akimu had established a good relationship with the foreigners which she revealed to Thamala when he was still disguised as an ivory buyer. “In May, Maria Akimu showed me from her diary that she had sold ivory to the foreigners for MK173, 000 (about US$1,730), and in June she sold ivory worth MK152,000($1,520),” Thamala told ENS.

“We believe that the ivory is illegally being exported to the Far East and that it is being sourced from neighboring Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia,” Thamala said.

According to Alphius Lipiya, the parks and wildlife officer responsible for wildlife management at DNPW Headquarters in Lilongwe, six pieces of the ivory belonged to Maria Akimu, and four were for her father Blackson Akimu.

Lipiya said the violent arrest will not deter officers from going after ivory traders again. “The department of parks and wildlife is ready to pounce again in case of any tip-offs and nothing will stand in its way, whatever the case it may be,” he said.

Environmentalists have expressed concerns that Malawi is being used as a conduit for raw ivory that is being illegally trafficked to the Middle East and the Far East.

At this time last year, a container full of ivory was intercepted in Malawi. Authorities believe this shipment involved high profile individuals who have international networks, and they were attempting to ship the ivory to Singapore en route to Japan. They had proper documents that resembled those required for a legal shipment, but officials found raw ivory inside the container.

Elephants in a southern Malawi protected area (Photo courtesy Malawi Tourism)

”There is no formal investigation unit in national parks and that leaves loopholes for traffickers to perpetuate illegal ivory trading,” Nzima explained.

To combat ivory trafficking Nzima said that the National Parks department needs to create links with police, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and community policing units.

He reiterated the need for National Parks to have an investigation unit to increase its effectiveness on the ground and to tighten controls that are completely porous. “There is a need to distinguish between legal and illegal trade,” said Nzima.

He said that the department needs the support of all Malawians from all economic sectors if it is to fulfill its objectives.

Malawi has been a party to the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) since 1982. CITES instituted a global ban on ivory trade in 1990 so that the remaining elephant populations in wildlife heartlands are protected.

Although a Party to the CITES Convention, Malawi holds a reservation against listing of its elephant population in Appendix I, which bans all trade in elephants or their parts.

While Malawi does not allow elephants to be hunted, provision is made in the National Park and Wildlife Act to designate any “protected species” as a “game species,” and this option may be exercised in the future for elephants.