The Directorate General of Customs has signed a protocol agreement with The Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA) to tackle the illegal cross border trade in protected wildlife.

The ceremony was presided at by the Director General, Fongod Edwin Navuga who seized the opportunity to highlight the necessity to share information and collaborate in the field so as to enhance the customs administration abilities to effectively deal with wildlife trafficking. The protocol agreement specifies the terms of the collaboration that shall include provision of capacity training to the customs agents to be able to tackle an increasing sophisticated cross border trade in wildlife species.

On his part, the National Coordinator of LAGA, Eric Kaba Tah, said formalizing an already existing collaboration that has in the past produced results, was important. He cited the case of the arrest of a Chinese national with 80kg of pangolin scales in Limbe in 2013 by customs and the collaboration that resulted and the sentencing of the trafficker to 6 months in prison. He equally gave other examples of collaboration between LAGA and customs including the arrest of two Chinese nationals at the Nsimalen airport with illegal wildlife products and their prosecution.

It should be noted that Cameroon is both a source and transit country for illegal wildlife products that are destined for Asian, European and American markets. Some of the contraband is exported to the West and North African regions. Experts say the trade is essentially cross border necessitating improved effectiveness in dealing with it. Kaba Tah said “For example, Cameroonians have very little use for pangolin scales but the trade is being stimulated by demand from a far distant land and our pangolins are dying”.

Specimens of plants and animals are traded in hundreds of millions every year under the regulatory authority of CITES, the convention that governs the international trade. While there is a legal trade, a huge corresponding illegal trade exists and this is what is causing all sorts of problems in CITES member countries among which is Cameroon.

The trade is the 4th global illegal trade behind the illegal trade in drugs, human trafficking, smuggling and counterfeiting. Early this year Hong Kong authorities seized 9 tons of illegal pangolin scales that was said to be shipped from Nigeria. While it is not certain if an investigation has been carried out to ascertain the exact origin of the scales, it is worth noting that one of the routes used by traffickers to illegally export pangolin scales start from countries in the sub region where the scales are collected, transiting through Cameroon to Nigeria, where it is exported.

LAGA has been assisting the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife since 2003 in the tracking and prosecution of traffickers and according to statistics from the conservation group, over 500 traffickers have been prosecuted during this period. Such assistance has now been extended to the customs administration.