Wildlife Crime in Cameroon and Operations' Impact
Illegal trade in apes is an issue that has suffered from great confusion
and lack of knowledge for a very long time. While endless popular bushmeat
studies keep on replicating themselves, the trade is an issue that has
been largely ignored in research. One of the reasons for this is the lack
of a credible database.
LAGA (the Last Great Ape Organization) is the first wildlife law enforcement
NGO in Africa. It leads wildlife law enforcement investigations and follows
cases right up to the point of prosecution, at a rate of one major wildlife
dealer behind bars per week. It now possesses an extensive database of
more than 200 court cases, which thus offers a unique reliability as it
is validated by court procedures and prosecutions.
Beyond the number of operations and their effectiveness there is an even
more important factor in evaluating LAGA's work - the strategic value
of the operations in reducing the level of illegal wildlife trade. The
operations which LAGA has been choosing to follow up are a diversified
set of cases, including several in Cameroon which carry an additional
value for exposing and mapping the different angles of wildlife crime
in that country. Consequently, the work of LAGA and MINFOF (Ministry of
Forestry and Wildlife) has shed light on the nature of illegal wildlife
trade in the sub-region. Our strategic focus on apes and other threatened
primates for 2007 and the first half of 2008 were as follows:
2007
The return of the "Taiping Four" gorillas marked another victory
in a long fight against a different level of illegal trade in wildlife.
It attracted huge public attention. One of the press releases called it
"one of the most high-profile cases of animal trafficking in history".
This affair exposes a different angle in combating illegal trade in apes:
the political fight against the international players of the trade. The
"Taiping Four" are four gorillas that were smuggled from Cameroon
to Nigeria to the Taiping Zoo in Malaysia, which paid 1.6 million US$
in this illegal deal. Ever since the discovery of this affair by the International
Primate Protection League (IPPL) in 2002, Cameroon has been demanding
the return of the gorillas in accordance with CITES guidelines. Our work
on this issue has been constant throughout this year as LAGA has been
at the center of further negotiation between the governments, as well
as within Cameroon itself, in-creasing cooperation between the different
ministries involved and co-operation with the diplomatic mission of Cameroon
in South Africa. LAGA also produced and promoted dozens of radio, TV,
and written press pieces sensitizing the public. As a result, the gorillas
finally arrived back in Cameroon.
In March 2007, a trader specializing in protected wildlife species was
arrested in Bamenda with eight large bags of chimpanzee meat. The dealer
had been observed regularly trading in protected wildlife species, including
apes, between Bamenda and Kumbo in the North West Province.
An operation was carried out against an ape trafficker dealing in live
chimpanzees in Nanga Eboko. This place has been an area of concern regarding
the trade in great apes for some time, and officials there have been keeping
pet apes in their houses as if they were above the law, while trade through
the town intensified. In Defense of Animals-Africa had been leading an
effort last year to apply pressure and diplomacy in an attempt to change
things there. Recent LAGA missions indicated that little has changed.
LAGA's operation was against one of the regular dealers who had been observed
trading apes between Nanga Eboko and Yaounde.
An operation in Douala involved a hotel owner trying to sell a baby drill;
he even produced a receipt for the sale. The drill is now in the Limbe
Wildlife Center.
In November, an officer of the Cameroon Army was arrested trying to sell
a live primate in Bamenda in the North West Province. He had arrived from
the south, where he had been stationed in an area rife with corruption
connected to illegal ivory trade. He was caught on record explaining how
his position helped him in the past to avoid justice and fast-track illegal
trade; prior to this offence, we had obtained recorded information showing
how deeply he was involved in the traffic of wildlife and wildlife products
while in his previous post in Djoum. The dealer has now been locked up
in the National Gendarmerie Company in Bamenda.
January-June 2008
This period was marked by a special focus on trade in great apes in Nanga
Eboko, Center Province. A manager in a logging company, Pangiotis Marelis,
of Greek nationality, was arrested and put behind bars for illegally dealing
with 2 chimps, 5 parrots and a DeBrazza's monkey. He was also caught with
a hunting rifle without the corresponding permit. Investigations are now
being carried out on his involvement with other chimps supplied in Douala.
This comes at a time when the government and the international community
are renewing pressure on logging companies to meet their legal responsibilities
by controlling their facilities and their workers against illegal hunting
and related trade.
A live chimpanzee was rescued from a high-ranking personality, the Senior
Divisional Officer of Upper Sanaga Division/Nanga Eboko, one of the highly
placed officials there who hold apes in their houses.
A retired military officer was arrested in Abong Mbang in the East Province
for illegally trading in gorilla meat. The dealer was caught with a consignment
of meat from an industrial refrigerator for sale including the legs and
heads of gorillas. He attempted to bribe the arresting officers, and has
connections to a member of parliament from the area, who also attempted
to bribe the officers and the State Counsel without success. He was sentenced
to 9 months imprisonment.
Wildlife Smuggling on the Internet
LAGA, in collaboration with other bodies and individuals, has discovered
that in addition to the lucrative illegal smuggling of wildlife, internet
wildlife scamming is also on the rise. Studying the worrying growth of
internet wildlife fraud in Cameroon in the last 2 years, we noticed the
link between wildlife and other forms of fraud. This was even discussed
with the Prime Minister in 2007.
One of the latest of the four successful arrest operations in 2008, carried
out through the ministry authorities by the forces of law and order with
the assistance of LAGA, is that of a well known scammer engaged in fraud
and illegal wildlife trade over the internet. He was arrested trying to
sell a chimpanzee over the internet to a client in Belgium for 2000 Euros
using falsified government documents and CITES permits. His connection
to other forms of fraud, including illegal immigration and adoption scams,
is still being investigated.
Although a majority of the internet cases we have observed is fraud and
does not involve actual animals, we do not rule out the possibility that
actual animals are being used to build trust between the scammer and the
victim. More than anything else, the limiting factor of the illegal trade
in apes is the communication between national dealers and the widespread
international demand. The internet therefore is potentially disastrous
in the way it can connect supply with demand.
Ofir Drori
Ofir Drori founded the organisation LAGA to save endangered animals in Cameroon by law enforcement. LAGA tries to catch and prosecute poachers that deal with endangered animal species.