SAMBURU, Kenya, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police on Tuesday arrested three suspects who were arrested with 21 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 57 kilograms during a security operation in Rumuruti in northern Kenya.
Gideon Kibunja, regional criminal investigation commander, said the police and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers had been trailing the suspects before they were detained and the tusks valued at about 5 million shillings (about 50,000 U.S. dollars).
Police in operation said the recovery indicates 11 elephants had been killed amid reports the suspects intended to sell the tusks to an international buyer.
The suspects aged 18, 26 and 35 respectively were expected to be arraigned on Tuesday. This is the latest such recovery of the ivory in the campaign against poaching.
Two weeks ago, two other suspects were arrested in Kilifi and tusks worth about 1.9 million shillings recovered from them.
Kenya has been identified in various researches as one of the leading transit routes for smuggling ivory out of Africa, with several incidents of ivory seizures and recovery of wildlife carcasses in recent times.
The conservationists have decried the entry of organized crime syndicates into the illegal wildlife trade, most notably of rhino horn and elephant tusk, which they said, has created a crisis situation in many African countries.
