
Three men sat waiting next to a motorbike at a petrol station in late evening.
The location was Bisil, a town in the center of Maasailand that would be hosting one of Kenya’s busiest livestock markets the following morning.
Just 60 km from Tanzania on the Namanga Highway, the market attracts customers from across the border and beyond. It’s a place where many things move through many hands.
The three men were not here to sell cows or goats - their cargo was far more secretive. They had been careful, but even the most quietly spoken whispers are clearly audible to Big Life’s intelligence network.
Whispers of these three had been monitored for several weeks, and they had no idea that the net was closing in.
Working with Big Life’s intelligence, officers from the Kenya Widlife Service arrested the men where they stood. The bag on their motorbike was opened to reveal 12 pieces of ivory, weighing 41.5 kgs in total. There was little struggle as they were taken for interrogation, and they will appear before court early next month.
We have not lost a single elephant to ivory poaching across our area of operation since 2018. But that doesn’t mean that the trade has stopped. In this case, the ivory was old, indicating it had been hidden for some time. But it underscores the need to stay vigilant.
This recent arrest sends a clear message to any would-be dealer: no matter how quietly you may whisper, you will be heard, and you will be caught.