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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A MAN from Binga has been jailed for 20 years after being found with four elephant tusks worth $3,650.

Binga magistrate Ailene Munamati convicted Samson Mugande, 42, from Chininga area under Chief Sinakona, on his plea of guilty to illegal possession of ivory.

Mugande will, however, serve an effective 14 years after the magistrate conditionally suspended six years for five years.

In his defence, Mugande said: “I picked the tusks in the bush and kept them.”

Prosecuting, Bruce Maphosa said police arrested Mugande on Friday last week after getting a tip-off from members of the public.

“Police received a tip-off that somebody was selling elephant tusks. A team of detectives went to his homestead pretending to be buyers and he produced the ivory,” said Maphosa.

Mugande, the court heard, was immediately arrested after he failed to produce a licence for the tusks, which weighed 14.6kg.The arrest comes at a time when a security team of police and Parks officers are on an offensive, hunting down poachers in the wake of the devastating use of cyanide in the country’s national parks.

More than 70 elephants have been killed since September this year by poachers who poison watering points and salt pans.