Another Anti-Poaching Victory in the Congo

Another anti-poaching and illegal ivory trading victory was secured at Owando in the Republic of Congo yesterday (12 March) when the appeal by convicted ivory kingpin Ngondjo Ghislain, better known by his nickname of Pépito, was dismissed. The court at Owando, in the north of the country, yesterday upheld the judgment and five-year prison sentence imposed on Pépito in July last year.

Five of the applicants in the inaugural Amnesty Programme launched by Odzala-Kokoua National Park last year confessed to previously working with Pépito and their statements were admitted to the court where he was tried in July 2013. The amnesty programme trains former poachers to become members of the park’s anti-poaching unit which last year secured the arrest of several poachers and illegal ivory traders in the Congo.