2008-03-26PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Two Cambodian men could face up to three years behind bars for allegedly poisoning an elephant and sawing off its tusks to sell on the black market, officials said Wednesday.
The male elephant, which was chained to a tree by its owner in Rattanakiri province, about 325 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of the capital Phnom Penh, was found dead in March 2007.
Police at the time said the killers had doused jack fruit, a tropical fruit eaten by elephants, with rat poison.
The tusks of the 62-year-old elephant, measuring almost 1 meter (3 feet) each, had been removed.
The two suspects, Men Rattana, 42, and Klem Sam Ouen, 27, were arrested this week, almost a year after the animal's killing, said Hor Ang, the provincial deputy police chief. They were charged with intentional destruction of private property because the elephant belonged to a Cambodian family and was not living in the wild.
Police raided the suspects' homes after being tipped off by villagers who had overheard the two men discussing prices for elephant tusks, Hor Ang said.
He said the tusks could fetch up to US$3,000 (€1,900) each in the illegal ivory trade.
Elephants are the main means of transport for hilltribe people in northeastern Cambodia. Conservationists have said that the end of years of armed conflict in Cambodia has allowed the elephant population and other wildlife to repopulate Cambodian jungles.
