A timeline of joint operations, seizures and prosecutions across Uganda.
Through 2025 the Task Force spearheaded joint enforcement and advocacy for Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, culminating in multi-stakeholder resolutions to halt encroachment and illegal conversion.
Multi-stakeholder resolutions adopted in June 2025 committing agencies to sustained protection of Bugoma CFR; enforcement patrols intensified.
In November 2024, Chinese nationals were convicted in Kampala for trafficking pangolins and fined UGX 55 million and UGX 26 million respectively.
Two foreign nationals convicted and fined UGX 55 million and UGX 26 million respectively.
A June 2024 operation in Kasese rescued 31 colobus monkeys and seven Gaboon vipers from traffickers, who were each fined UGX 21 million on conviction.
Traffickers convicted and fined UGX 21 million each; the animals were taken into care.
In August 2023, a serving traffic police officer was arrested in possession of 34 kilograms of elephant ivory. The case is before court.
Suspect arrested and charged; case pending before court.
A September 2022 operation recovered 134 pieces of worked ivory. The offender was convicted and penalised UGX 40 million.
Offender convicted and penalised UGX 40 million.
Fifteen kilograms of rhino horn concealed in a consignment of pineapples were intercepted in May 2022. The offender was convicted and fined UGX 120 million.
Offender convicted and fined UGX 120 million.
An April 2022 operation rescued 122 live African grey parrots destined for the illegal pet trade. The trafficker was convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
Trafficker convicted and sentenced to seven (7) years imprisonment; surviving birds taken into care for rehabilitation.
A December 2021 joint operation intercepted a consignment of 740 kilograms of pangolin scales and 58 kilograms of elephant ivory destined for export — among the largest combined seizures recorded by the Task Force.
Suspects arrested and prosecuted; the consignment was secured as exhibits.
Following the poisoning of lions in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, suspects were arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to eight years — a landmark deterrent for crimes against iconic species.
Offenders convicted and sentenced to eight (8) years imprisonment.
Joint operations in Oyam and Nwoya districts recovered pangolin scales together with twelve firearms used by poaching networks operating around the Murchison Falls landscape.
Suspects arrested and charged; the recovered firearms were taken out of circulation, disrupting armed poaching around Murchison Falls.
A joint intelligence-led operation recovered approximately 1.3 tonnes of elephant ivory concealed at premises in Najjanakumbi, a Kampala suburb — one of the largest ivory recoveries in Uganda.
Suspects arrested and prosecuted; the ivory was secured as court exhibits and later transferred to state custody.
From a 1.3-tonne seizure in Najjanakumbi to worked ivory intercepted at Entebbe, coordinated multi-agency action is squeezing the ivory supply chain through Uganda.
Alarmed by the degradation of one of Uganda’s most important biodiversity and carbon reservoirs, the Task Force has made restoring Bugoma Central Forest Reserve a national priority.
