Poaching

AUTHORITIES in south-eastern DRC have seized 1.5 tons of elephant ivory, legal and environmental officials said, in one of the largest hauls in Africa in years.

The contraband ivory represents 80 to 100 slaughtered elephants, Sabin Mande, a lawyer for a coalition of environmental groups said this week.

Officers discovered the smuggled tusks aboard trucks in Lubumbashi last Saturday. Five people were arrested, but two had escaped, an official said. |