A suspected ivory trafficker is in custody after Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers intercepted him as he was carrying four elephant tusks along a coastal border town during an operation that underscores the country’s intensifying crackdown on poaching.

Nyamawi Mwandia Kulemba was arrested on March 28, 2026, in the Shirikisho area of Lungalunga, Kwale County, at around 3:40 in the afternoon.

Officers found him ferrying the tusks on a blue Haojin motorcycle with no registration plates. The illegal goods were hidden inside sacks. The four tusks weighed a combined 39 kilograms.

Kenya Wildlife Service confirmed that officers had received credible intelligence about suspected wildlife trafficking activity in the area before moving in.

That tip was passed to the commanding officer at Lunga Lunga station, setting off a coordinated response involving multiple agencies. Kulemba remains in custody pending his appearance in court.

The recovered tusks have been secured as exhibits while investigators work to establish whether Kulemba acted alone or forms part of a wider trafficking network.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is involved in the ongoing probe and made it clear that enforcement pressure on wildlife criminals will not ease.

Kenya remains a key battleground in the global fight against ivory trafficking, with law enforcement increasingly relying on intelligence-driven operations to dismantle trafficking networks and protect endangered species.