Poachers arrested with 22 elephants tusks in Kenya

Kenya's wildlife authorities said here Monday its rangers have seized 22 elephant tusks and arrested three suspects who tried to sell them in Garsen town in southeastern Kenya.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Communications Director Connie Maina said the trio who were looking for buyers were arrested by KWS rangers who posed as buyers following a tip-off on Monday.

"We got a tip-off from a member of the public and immediately sent our rangers who posed as buyers and managed to arrest the three while two other suspects escaped as the rangers tried to pursue them," she said.

Maina said thorough investigations are underway to find the origin of the tusks.

The east African nation which has elephant population of 28,000 has suffered its heaviest loss of elephants during the 1980s and early 1990s when poachers devastated Kenya's pachyderms.

However, it has since subsided, helped by a 1989 global ban on the ivory trade that has seen prices drop.

Before the 1989 international ban on the ivory trade, the Kenyan elephant was on the verge of extinction. The country's herds were cut from 167,000 in 1973, to 16,000 in 1989.

Since then, Kenya's elephant population has steadily recovered.

Source: Xinhua