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The Botswana intelligence agency has been accused of using its anti-poaching operation to conceal the elephant defenses of the responsible government department, potentially using it as a means of smuggling ivory
. An anti-poaching unit attacked a storage facility of a Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DISS) in Ngwashe, near the village of Nata in northern Botswana, which reportedly found a large stock of tusks. Elephants
. the department ignored the Ngwashe Reserve until last week and that the DISS could not explain why it was keeping so many defenses in a warehouse in the bush, as this was not a standard procedure
. the scene could not be taken into account for the stock and told the wildlife department officials that the questions should be addressed to Isaac Kgosi, the former head of DISS who was fired earl This year,
According to sources, the Wildlife Department refused to take over defenses without proper inventory. The ministry wants to know how the DISS was able to collect so much ivory without his knowledge and from where the agency came from.
According to wildlife officers, the correct procedure is for the DISS to first report to the department how and where it got each defense
Botswana adopts a hard line on poaching and smuggling products of animal origin, and follows an unwritten shot to kill poachers' policy.
The Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act provides for a fine of Pula 50,000 (R64,750) or a 10-year prison sentence for possession of ivory.
The younger brother of former president Ian Khama, Tshekedi Khama. The DISS underwent a sudden change of direction after Botswana's new president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, sacked his founding managing director, Isaac Kgosi, in May of this year and replaced him with Brigadier Peter Magosi
]. The installation of Ngwashe would not have been possible without the support of senior officials of the DISS, who called for reforms at the spy agency.
Kgosi allegedly established an illegal anti-poaching unit in parallel with the wildlife department unit. Ministry officials complain that the DISS has exceeded its authority and that its anti-poaching equipment "hampers" their operations.
There have also been rumors that the DISS unit was set up for smuggling money and laundering money.
The media reported last year that the agency was on the radar of the Wildlife Intelligence Unit for some time after being informed that it was part of an international racket contraband of diamonds and ivory
. 2016 Three DISS agents were reportedly arrested by the Wildlife Intelligence Unit at a roadblock in Makalamabedi, central Botswana, with elephant tusks cut into small pieces in a sports bag.
The Sunday Standard alleged that the information collected by the unit suggests that agents of the agency illegally smuggled ivory and diamonds into the area. alien in their plane Pilatus PC-12 as a diplomatic cargo, which enjoys immunity from search or seizure. [19659002DISSwasconsideredasthepersonalfiefofKgosiquiwaspreviouslytheprivatesecretaryofIanKhamaandenjoyedtheprotectionfor10yearsintheagency
Kgosi refused to comment on the claims relating to Ngwashe stocks, saying that he no longer works for the government. "Go ask the competent authorities," he said
READ MORE: Who is Botswana's new spying chief?
When he takes over, Magosi, former head of the military secret service, publicly promises to change the old DISS culture.
This week, he confirmed that the agency had a warehouse filled with elephant tusks in his Ngwashe camp, but he insisted that there had been nothing unusual about that.
"Sometimes elephants die. As part of a permanent arrangement, the DISS anti-poaching unit often collected defenses during a bush patrol, transported them to Ngwashe camp and arranged for guards to foresters fall under the control of the Wildlife Service. recorded every day and we report any new discovery at the DISS headquarters. When the time is right, we hand over the defenses to the wildlife department and record the transfer. "
The Wildlife Department and the DISS both refused to make available the guidelines applied in such cases."
According to him, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks did not know the reserve until it was cleared. last week, Magosi suggested that the INK could have asked the bad officials.
He already informed the wildlife department of the stock and badured them that the defenses would be transferred to them. to reveal the amount of ivory in the possession of the DISS
However, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Thato Raphaka, challenges it.
Raphaka says that He was unaware that the DISS a reserve filled with elephant tusks in his camp in the wilderness of northern Botswana, and that's not how the problem is. treated normally
The department is responsible of record keeping of all ivory storage facilities in Botswana. While this area [of the Ngwashe camp] is under the DISS, "he said," they have the responsibility to inform us whenever they find things such as elephant tusks and the recover.
"We do not know anything about [the stockpile] and I'm sure we would have been informed about it … This is not a procedure to keep such a large stock of elephant tusks" and not to report.
He noted that the department regularly checks with the DISS to see if they have anything for them. "There is no smoke without fire," said Thato. "When we think that there is a problem, we will always treat it."
Kgosi created the DISS in 2008 with a vague mandate and without the proper channels of accountability.
Last year, the agency was accused of corruption in Botswana. Watchdog, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, misappropriating public funds for the fuel tax on the acquisition of military equipment intended to be used in the fight against poaching.
An amount of 118 million pula was paid technology company, Dignia Systems, for the acquisition of equipment
* This story was produced by the INK Center for Investigative Journalism Botswana, in badociation with the AmaBhungane Center for Journalism Investigation .
The AmaBhungane Center for Investigative Journalism produced this story. I like that? Be a supporter of AmaB and help us do more. Know more? Send us an error message.
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