8 traffickers were sentenced to varying prison terms last year for illegal trade in protected wildlife species. They were sentenced under the 1994 wildlife law that gives a prison sentence of up to 10 years for anyone trafficking in protected wildlife species.
During one the court rulings, 3 traffickers were found guilty and sentenced to 6 months in prison and ordered to pay CFAF 400 000 as fines. They were arrested with 28 African grey parrots in December 2022. There is a new law that is in place that gives up to 20 years in prison to defaulters.
Section 173 of the 2024 Wildlife Law states that anyone found guilty of killing, keeping or marketing protected wildlife shall be punished with imprisonment of from 15 to 20 years or a fine of CFAF 20 000 000 to 50 000 000 or with both such imprisonment and fine. This definitely makes the offence a criminal one and therefore the procedures warrant that an examining judge handles the matter.
Two of such cases, among others, are presenting on the table of examining judges. 3 traffickers are facing criminal charges following their arrest last December in Bertoua for illegal possession of 64 African grey parrots, a species that is listed in Class A and therefore totally protected.
A trafficker was arrested on December 17 in Yaoundé while attempting to sell 2 leopard skins and the case is presently with an examining judge in Yaounde. Leopards are totally protected wildlife species. And in both cases if the traffickers are found guilty they could be in prison for up to 20 years. These arrests were carried by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, with the technical assistance of LAGA – a wildlife law enforcement support organisation.
These measures are aimed at quickly bringing down illegal wildlife trade drastically especially as the crimes are taking on new and subtler dimensions; making use of technology and money laundering. The central African sub region is therefore trying to catch up with these developments in wildlife criminality.
Conservation expects held a meeting in Douala recently to strengthen the application of the wildlife law. The meeting brought together experts from the government and NGO sectors to revise the Central Africa wildlife law enforcement action plan dubbed PAPECALF 2. The action plan seeks to strengthen the application of wildlife laws in the sub region. Speaking during the meeting. Luc Evouna, one of the experts from WWF said “We believe that the action plan of the COMIFAC member countries for the implementation of the wildlife law requires revision. This revision should address new forms of crime, particularly money laundering linked to wildlife trafficking and cybercrime in the context of wildlife trafficking”. It is expected that several major wildlife traffickers will be arrested and face the 20-year jail term as stipulated in the 2024 Wildlife Law.
Photo Arrested for parrot trafficking, they could be facing up to 20 years in jail
Nous avons pensé que le plan d’action des pays de l’espace COMIFAC pour la mise en œuvre de la loi sur la faune sauvage nécessite une révision. Laquelle révision qui devrait intégrer les nouvelles formes de criminalité notamment le blanchiment de capitaux liés au trafic des espèces sauvages et la cybercriminalité dans le trafic des espèces sauvages