Report links illegal sandalwood trade to banditry, blames Uganda

Uganda has been cited as a gateway for sandalwood smugglers.

A new report has also linked local security agencies to banditry in the Rift Valley.

The report, "Sandalwood Smuggling in Kenya and its Impact", describes Uganda as a safe haven for the endangered trees, with the proceeds being used to purchase firearms.

The report indicates that the Uganda route is the weakest link, with Tororo being the final destination before the wood is processed and shipped to India and the Middle East.

“Lack of uniformity in regional regulations, therefore, plays a critical role in aiding smuggling in the region. The sandalwood trade may be banned in Kenya, yet just over the border a licensed factory that semi-processes the wood in Tororo is a convenient way to make the illegally harvested wood become extinct,” says the report.

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The East African sandalwood, scientifically known as Osyris lanceolata, is a highly sought for a host of uses ranging from medicinal to beauty. 

In Kenya, the tree is indigenous to certain arid and semi-arid places such as Baringo, Kitui, Makueni, Narok, Embu and Samburu counties. 

For centuries, locals have relied on the tree’s leaves and berries for nutrition and medicinal purposes. 

The Wamba-Suguta land route mainly serves to traffic sandalwood out of Samburu. The report says smugglers take Wamba, Suguta, Rumuruti, Nyahururu, Nakuru then Busia before crossing the boarder.

Arming the bandits

Another notorious route is the Oldonyiro -Kisima- Rumuruti-Nyahururu-Nakuru then Busia.

“All these routes enable traffickers to move their illegal goods towards the Kenya -Uganda border. The sandalwood is taken across the border to Tororo in Uganda by use of use cut routes and take advantage of the porous border where there is ready market and factories for onward processing.”

A multi-million-dollar trade in illegally harvested sandalwood in the six counties has emerged in recent years.

“There is a nexus between illegal sandalwood trade and banditry in parts of the Rift Valley such as Laikipia, Baringo and Samburu where proceeds of illegal sandalwood business are used to purchase illegal small arms and ammunition for banditry purposes,” the report further claims.

The increased over-exploitation of this wood goes back to 2006, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which lists the tree as threatened.

It is also on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Kenya banned logging and selling of sandalwood on April 4, 2007. Since then, hundreds of tonnes of the wood have been recovered and dozens of arrests made.

A 2014 Task Force on Wildlife Security traced the origins of the large scale harvesting and smuggling to the once ungovernable Tsavo area. 

Allure of fragrance

“The harvesting started in the Kyulu Hills. Exploitation accelerated and spread to Taita, Amboseli Kajiado, Narok, Baringo and the Rift Valley escarpments; then to Northern parts of Kenya including Isiolo, Samburu, and many other areas across the country.

"In all the areas, the harvesting is uncontrolled,” reads a report by the task force. 

Prices for the product range between Sh200 and Sh300 per kilogram depending on the day’s demand.

The heartwood of the trunk, main branches and roots contain an essential oil. This oil blends well with many fragrance materials that it has become a common blender-fixative used in numerous perfumes. 

The tree grows to a height of 1 to 6 metres, but the roots are most favoured as the essential oil concentration is highest, followed by the trunk.

The tree is dioecious (male and female on separate trees). The female is most preferred as it is said to have a better quality of heartwood.

During the peak of the illegal trade in 2005 to 2009, it was believed that the tree was being smuggled into Tanzania using fraudulent documents.

After value addition and semi-processing, the products were re-exported to Indonesia, India, South Africa, France, Germany and eastern Asia. 

Police reports and multiple interviews paint a picture on how the trade is organised and how the contraband moves form one point to another. 

The cutters are at the bottom of the food chain, followed by local middlemen who oversee the cutting and transportation out of the forest.Then there are the bosses in charge of shipping the wood, mostly in tonnes, out of the country and making contact with overseas markets. 

This is done in ingenious ways, including storing the harvested wood in police camps or private homes. Transportation is mostly in long haul trucks disguised as charcoal or modified flower trucks. 

On November 16, last year, Boaz Ombewa of the Kahawa Magistrate Court freed Calvin Juma Boy, who was the Samburu East Sub County Police Commander, after he was arrested for being in possession of sandalwood, narcotics, firearms and ammunition.

Juma was arrested after DCI detectives received a tipoff that two police vehicles were parked at his residence loaded with sandalwood. He was arrested alongside officers Patrick Murigi and Festus Saha, who were driving the vehicles.

A case that perhaps gives an insight into the smuggling is that of three men arrested on October 6, 2019, in the Oljogi Conservancy in Laikipia.

Jackson Mbugua alias Bishop, David Ndiritu, Daniel Kibe and Jackson Luso were arraigned at the Nanyuki Law Courts for allegedly dealing in elephant tusks without a permit.

Mbugua had also been charged with the illegal transportation of sandalwood on August 25, 2017, at the Nyahururu Magistrate Court.

Proceeds of crime

The Assets Recovery Agency said he had made his wealth from selling sandalwood and animal trophies. Justice Diana Mochache of the Kibera High Court on February 29 ruled that a caveat be placed on the piece of land in Mathare to prevent its sale or transfer.

In another case, Beth Wambui Waithira, who was arrested in Athi-River in 2021, was fined Sh200,000 for possession of 300.17kgs of sandalwood.

Her vehicle, a Toyota Ractis, was declared proceeds of crime and forfeited to the State.