The Burundian National Police announced on Monday 29 July the seizure on Saturday, 27 July of 28 kg of ivory at Bujumbura International Airport. They were carried by a man from Guinea Conakry living in Burundi.

At a press conference held on Monday morning concerning the issue, the national police deputy spokesperson, opc1 Pierre NKURIKIYE, indicated that the dealer, Allassane Kaba, was being questioned in order to identify the source of his booty and his accomplices up and downstream. In order to evade the vigilance of the police, Kaba transformed the ivory into jewellery for ladies and tied it carefully in a bag. According to a reliable source, the seized ivory likely is from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), bordering Burundi where there is no elephant since 2004.

Environmentalists laud police action to track down ivory traffickers and encourage them to work harder so that Bujumbura airport will no longer be a place of preference for the transit for this kind of trafficking. Since the beginning of this year, the Burundian police has already seized 53 kilos of ivory still at Bujumbura airport, mostly destined to Asia. According to police deputy spokesperson, Allassane Kaba is legally based in Bujumbura, in the working class neighbourhood of Bwiza since 2006 and is married to a Burundian woman.

Topic handled by the correspondents of the Central African network of environment communicators - Journalists: Victor Mubwigiri - Claver Hakizimana - Epimaque Buterere Nikobitungwa.

In the press:

Burundi : 28 kg d'ivoire saisis à l'aéroport international de Bujumbura - <}0{>Burundi: 28 kg of Ivory Seized at the Bujumbura International Airport -  BUJUMBURA (Xinhua) - The Burundian National Police announced on Monday 29 July the seizure on Saturday, 27 July of 28 kg of ivory at the Bujumbura International Airport. They were carried by a man from Guinea Conakry living in Burundi.

28 kg d'ivoire saisis à l'aéroport international de Bujumbura       - @rib News, 29/07/2013 - Source Xinhua

Image credit: http://www.arib.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7611&Itemid=76