Two men nabbed for unlawful possession of ivory

Michael Mashiri

Zim Now Correspondent

Two men who accused of possessing 20kgs ivory worth US$3 281 have been taken to court.

Bernard Chiumbe, 50, and Vincent Chiumbe, 25, appeared before magistrate Caroline Matanga at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts charged with unlawful possession of raw ivory.

They will appear in court on July 8 and were advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

The State, through prosecutor Rufaro Chonzi, alleges that on June 17 at around 3:52pm, detectives were informed that the accused were in possession of ivory in Mabvuku, Harare and were looking for buyers.

It is alleged that one of the police officers, managed to get Bernard’s contact numbers and called him, purporting to be an ivory buyer.

He agreed to meet the purported buyer at Old Tafara Shopping Centre.

The court was informed that the detectives teamed up with the others and went to the mentioned meeting place in two vehicles.

Upon the arrival of the detective who pretended to be a buyer, Bernard went to the vehicle where he talked with the purported buyer and they agreed to complete the transaction at Sunbird Tavern Bar, which is a distance away from the shops.

Bernard went to Sunbird Tavern Bar on foot and agreed to meet with the buyer after 15 minutes when the truck carrying the ivory would be at the same place.

The detective was shown the ivory, which was placed on the front passenger seat and Vincent opened the white sack to reveal two elephant tusks.

The detective coded others who came to arrest the duo.

However, Bernard, after realising that the purported buyers were police officers, sped off with the ivory in the truck and the detectives gave chase.

He was subdued at Chemhanza Ground, which is about 800 meters away from the Sunbird Tavern Bar and the detectives returned and arrested Vincent too who was still around the Sunbird Tavern Bar area.

The court heard that the accused were asked to produce documents authorising them to possess the ivory but they failed, leading to their arrest.

The Parks and Wildlife officials assayed, examined the recovered ivory as raw unmarked ivory weighing 19.30 kilogrammes valued at US$3 281.