Father, son charged with possession of Sh5.3m ivory

A man and his son were charged with possession of 16 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 58kg valued at Sh5.3 million. 

Appearing before chief magistrate Josphat Burudi on Friday, Sammy Macharia, 58, and James Macharia, 28 , were accused of being in illegal possession of the elephants tusks on Thursday at Ebeneza estate in Nakuru.

The two were charged with a second count of trafficking prohibited national trophies without authorisation from Kenya Wildlife Service.

 They were arrested while transporting the tusks from Eldoret to Nairobi. 

They were using a private vehicle registration number KCG 552N. The tusks were in sacks packed with eight pieces each.

Nakuru police commander Stephen Matu said they received a tip-off from member of the public at 9am.

Matu further said the suspects were communicating via mobile phone with a person they suspected to be the buyer. 

They denied the charges and were released on a bond of Sh5 million. 

The case will be mentioned on June 21 and heard on August 16.