Four denied bail over unlawful possession of ivory

Michael Mashiri

Four people who, were caught with four pieces of ivory, have been denied bail.

Ngoni Jira, 30, Tichaona Mafusire, 35, Estery Mafusire, 41, and Watson Kahombe, 40, appeared at the Harare Magistrate’s Courts accused of unlawful possession of raw unmarked ivory.

The State alleges that on November 28, 2023, detectives from CID MFFU Harare, were informed that the accused persons had ivory which they were selling.

They managed to obtain Jira’s contact numbers and started communicating with him.

Jira invited the detectives, who were posing as buyers, to meet him at Hellensvale Shopping Centre, in Borrowdale for a meeting.

The detectives formed two teams, one which was constituted by those pretending to be buyers and the other one as back-up.

The detectives met the three accused persons while the back-up team was monitoring from a distance.

After the meeting, it was revealed that Kahombe was the one who had the ivory in Crowhill.

The three accused persons got into the police car and went to Crowhill, where Kahombe was parked.

Upon their arrival, they saw Kahombe getting out of the car carrying a black shopping bag and took it to the police car vehicle intending to show the buyer and weigh for payment.

Upon seeing the ivory, detectives signalled the back-up team who advanced, leading to the arrest of the four accused and recovery of four pieces of unmarked ivory.

Investigations made by police established that the accused had no permit or licence to possess the ivory.

Parks and Wildlife officials were summoned and they assayed the recovered ivory.

The four pieces of ivory were weighed and recorded 5.47kg with a value of US$929.90.

They were ordered to appear in court on December 19 and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.