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Tanzanian wildlife conservator arrested over ivory deal

Xinhua, May 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

A senior wildlife conservator with Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) has been arrested with one piece of elephant tusk in northern region of Arusha, authorities said on Monday.

Tanapa's spokesperson, Pascal Shelutete said in a statement that the experienced wildlife conservator, Genes Shayo, 60, was arrested by Tanapa's anti-poaching special task force on May 16, this year, in Arumeru District.

Shelutete said that the country's wildlife watchdog received information that a person identified as Emmanuel Nassari, a resident of Ngarenanyuki in Arumeru District, owned ivory for which he was searching customers.

Nassari is a pastor at one of the Arusha-based churches under the Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG).

It stated that after receiving the information, Tanapa consulted the national anti-poaching special task force for investigation.

According to Shelutete, the task force succeeded to arrest pastor Nassari on May 15, this year, and after interrogations he admitted to have the ivory at his home.

He told the police that he was able to acquire the ivory through collaboration with Tanapa senior conservator, Genes Shayo.

Nassari insisted that Shayo was aware of the ivory, a situation that forced police to arrest the conservator on May 16, this year, for interrogation.

The Tanzania National Parks has appealed to the public to continue cooperating with the authority by providing it with information on poaching.

Shelutete said that Tanapa would continue to take actions against anyone, including its staff, who would be found to be engaged in poaching activities.

The arrest of the conservator came at the time when the country's wildlife watchdog is transforming itself into paramilitary to scale up anti-poaching battle.

Tanapa is in charge of taking care of Tanzania's national parks.

Tanzania has emerged as the epicentre of Africa's elephant poaching crisis after a government census revealed it had lost a "catastrophic" 60 percent of its elephants in just five years.

The results pile pressure on Tanzania's government that has been heavily criticized for its inability to stop a flood of poached ivory being stripped from its national parks.

Tanzania's elephant population is one of the continent's largest. But data released last year by the Tanzania showed that between 2009 and 2014 the number dropped from 109,051 to 43,330. When an annual birth rate of 5 percent is taken into account the number of dead is 85,181. Endit