MAPUTO, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambican Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development (MITADER) announced here on Monday that 20 Tanzanian citizens will be deported for their involvement in poaching in northern Mozambique.
According to the MITADER's note, these Tanzanian illegal hunters were sentenced to three or four years in prison and fines of one million meticais (about 1,6393 U.S. dollars) for killing endangered animals, mostly elephants and rhinos, in northern province of Niassa, which is bordered by Tanzania.
The decision to deport the citizens involved in the illegal hunting was motivated by the need to alleviate the overcrowed jail where there are too many transgressors who serve in their sentences.
"In order to implement the expulsion measure, the Niassa National Reserve in collaboration with the Border Guard Police and the Migration Services are creating the necessary logistical conditions for the monitoring of those sentenced on their way back to Tanzania," reads the note.
Mozambique and Tanzania have been joining efforts to fight gun trafficking used by poachers and also the activity itself which this year killed around 295 rhinos. In the same trial in which the 20 Tanzanians were tried, a Mozambican was also sentenced to four years in prison.
Mozambican natural reserves and parks are targeted by poachers, who slaughter rhinos and elephants for the extraction of ivory and horns mainly destined be sold in Asian markets.
