Joint operations in Oyam and Nwoya districts recovered pangolin scales together with twelve firearms used by poaching networks operating around the Murchison Falls landscape.
In 2020, coordinated enforcement operations in Oyam and Nwoya districts targeted networks trafficking pangolin scales out of the Murchison Falls landscape. The operations recovered a consignment of pangolin scales alongside twelve firearms — a rare double blow that removed both product and the tools of poaching from the field.
Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals on earth, and northern Uganda's savannah parks are a persistent source of scales for the illegal market. By pairing wildlife intelligence with police and military support, the operation reached beyond couriers to the armed groups that supply them.
Suspects were arrested and produced in court, and the firearms were secured. The case demonstrated the value of the Task Force model in areas where wildlife crime overlaps with armed criminality.