Meru Law Courts jailed two poachers who sold nine pieces of elephant tusks to undercover police to five years in prison with an alternative fine of Sh2 million each.
Meru Chief Magistrate Dominica Nyambu found Joseph Nyeere Mutea alias George and Edward Kaburu Nyaga guilty of trafficking in and possessing endangered wildlife trophies.
The third suspect, Samuel Avasirwa Masimbi, escaped after being freed on a Sh2 million bond.
The three had presented 22 kilograms of the nine elephant tusks to Corporal Nicholas Munene and KWS warden Michael Bett and asked for Sh3.3 million after a protracted negotiation.
In a sting operation performed by officers from the KWS investigative team stationed in Lang’ata, Nairobi, the suspects believed the government officers were involved in the ivory trafficking.
The sleuths had got a tip-off from an informer that the suspects had taken tusks from six elephants and were hunting for buyers.
They were told that the tusks belonged to five adult elephants and one baby elephant and were stashed in a residence near Meru National Park.
The two cops then initiated a meeting with the poachers at the then-Meru Safari Hotel before they earned their trust and consented to show them where the tusks were buried.
