Three businessmen arrested with 58kg of ivory

Elephant tusks. [File, Standard]

Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) officers in Naivasha have arrested three suspects and recovered nine pieces of elephant tusks.

A private vehicle used to ferry the illegal cargo was also seized.

The three, said to be businessmen from Nairobi City, were ferrying the tusks weighing 58kg from Kinangop when intercepted along the Naivasha-Engineer Road.

KWS suspects that the tusks were chopped off from two elephants that were recently killed in Aberdare National Park in Nyandarua County.

The suspects tried to flee from the moving vehicle before being apprehended and frog-matched to the Naivasha police station.

A source from KWS said they had received a tip-off from area residents about the traders who had allegedly travelled to Kinangop to buy the tusks.

"We laid an ambush along the road and managed to recover nine pieces of tusks that were stashed in the boot of the car and arrested three suspects," said the source.

Naivasha OCPD Samuel Waweru confirmed the weekend incident adding that they were working with KWS on the case.

"The three are on their way to court to be charged with various offences, and the recovered tusks are in the custody of KWS staff," he said.