THE Nyimba Magistrates court has convicted two men and sentenced them to 12years imprisonment with hard labour for the poaching of four elephants in West Petauke Game Management Area and the Nyamvu Game ranch. Never Phiri, 30 and Davison Phiri, 26, both residents of Nyimba who were sentenced last Friday had been charged with three counts of unlawful possessions of the prescribed trophy, unlawful hunting and unlawful possession of two X 375 Rifles. For the unlawful hunting and possession of trophy, they were given a five year sentence for each count and a two year sentence for unlawful possession of firearms. The two were arrested on October 22, 2013, by a team of officers from the Zambia Wildlife Authority.
In another development, ZAWA has arrested a 34 year old man in connection with the poisoning of four elephants valued at K168,000, 248 vultures and two eagles, in North Luangwa National Park. The named suspect was arrested by ZAWA officers yesterday after a tip from members of the community in Mabbuluti village in Shiwang’andu District. He was found with 19×375 rifle ammunitions, four shotgun ammunitions and three packets of Carbofuran, a chemical that was detected in the samples of the dead animals. The samples were examined by the Food and Drugs Control laboratory under the Ministry of Health. While acting with others, the man is suspected to have poisoned the said animals in an incident which happened on October 25, 2013. He is currently detained at Mpika Police pending further investigations which could also lead to the arrest of other suspects in the matter.
