The fight against wildlife crimes in Kenya has intensified, with courts issuing jail sentences and heavy fines to traffickers of aloe gum, elephant tusks, and rhino horns, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said on Friday. According to the KWS, three suspects were arraigned for the illegal trafficking of 15 tonnes of aloe gum valued at 15 million Kenyan shillings (about 116,000 U.S. dollars) after the consignment was intercepted in Samburu County, northern Kenya. Each of the three suspects was granted bail of 3,861 dollars, with the next court appearance scheduled for next week, the KWS said, reaffirming the country's commitment to using the judicial system to root out wildlife crimes. The arrests followed a multi-agency security operation along a major highway in northern Kenya, it added. Aloe gum, a drought-resistant plant prized for its medicinal properties, is a protected natural resource under Kenyan law. In a separate incident, two individuals were sentenced to five years in prison after they were found in possession of elephant tusks worth 20,000 dollars in Kajiado County, southeastern Kenya, a region home to several iconic wildlife species. The two were granted 14 days to appeal the sentence, even as authorities heightened surveillance along wildlife corridors in southern Kenya to prevent poaching, the agency said. Meanwhile, another suspect arrested earlier this week in Moyale, northern Kenya, with 2.6 kg of rhino horn valued at 20,077 dollars was denied bail after prosecutors deemed him a flight risk. According to KWS forensic experts, the seized horn equates to the killing of one black rhino, a critically endangered species with fewer than 1,000 individuals remaining in Kenya. These three cases reflect our unwavering resolve to combat all forms of illegal wildlife trade-from endangered species trophies to commercially exploited natural products like aloe gum, it said. The agency pledged to leverage domestic and international legal instruments to protect iconic wildlife species at risk of poaching, including giant mammals, carnivores, and reptiles.
