The crackdown on ivory trafficking continues unabated in Togo. The month of April has already recorded 7 alleged ivory traffickers arrested and transferred to the civilian prisons of Lomé and Kara.

Ivory traffickers continue to use all illegal means to decimate elephants despite awareness and legal texts on the protection of endangered species. In an operation carried out by agents of the Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Trafficking in Drugs and Money Laundering (OCRTIDB) and the Ministry of the Environment and Forest Resources (MERF) in collaboration with EAGLE-Togo, three alleged traffickers in possession of six elephant tusks were arrested on Wednesday April 14, 2021.

Another operation to arrest ivory traffickers, carried out in Kara by agents of the Research and Investigation Brigade (BRI) and MERF, always with the collaboration of EAGLE-Togo, failed on the arrest on Friday April 23, 2021 of four alleged traffickers operating in the illegal ivory trade in possession of four elephant tusks.

The ivory seized would mainly come from certain neighboring countries of Togo. This is due to the porosity of land borders, thus benefiting wildlife criminals. These men belong to an international ivory trafficking network with connections in Benin and Burkina Faso.