(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has called in police to investigate allegations of ivory smuggling by former President Robert Mugabe's family, a spokesman said.
The investigation began after Al Jazeera television broadcast images of stockpiled ivory provided by an Australian photographer. While trade in ivory is legal within Zimbabwe, exports are banned. Mugabe ruled the southern African nation from 1980 until November when he was ousted after a military intervention.
“We've submitted all the relevant information to the police with regards to suspected smuggling of ivory by the office of the former first family,” wildlife management authority spokesman Tinashe Farawo said Friday by phone from the capital, Harare.
The state-controlled Chronicle newspaper reported Friday that police will soon interview Grace Mugabe about the allegations. It cited unidentified officials as saying ivory was being exported to various foreign leaders as gifts.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Harare at blatham@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn
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