Mugabe's wife Grace under probe for ivory smuggling

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Zimbabwean police are investigating former ruler Robert Mugabe's wife Grace, accused of smuggling ivory worth millions to underground foreign markets, a state-owned weekly reported on Sunday.

Documents handed in by the parks and wildlife authority showed that the former first lady "spirited large consignments of ivory" to foreign destinations, including the United States, the United Arab Emirates and China, The Sunday Mail said.

Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba confirmed receiving a report but declined to elaborate.

The report accused Grace Mugabe of ordering officials to grant her permits to export the ivory as gifts to the leaders of various countries.

"Once outside Zimbabwe, the 'gifts' would be pooled together with other consignments of the product and routed to black markets," the report said.

A Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management official checks ivory inside a storeroom in Harare, August 22, 2012. /Reuters Photo

The smuggling was tipped off by an unnamed whistleblower, senior official in the presidency, Christopher Mutsvangwa, said.

"Police and whistleblowers laid a trap for suppliers believed to be working for Grace Mugabe," Mutsvangwa said.

"The culprits were caught and that is how investigations started. When we were confronted with so much evidence, there is no way we could ignore."

The newspaper said police may question the former first lady soon.

Grace Mugabe was tipped alongside the current President Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe since independence from 1980 until he was forced to step down in November 2017 following a military takeover.

Zimbabwe has suffered rampant poaching of elephants, targeted for their ivory tusks which are used for ornaments and medicines.

At least 400 elephants died from cyanide poisoning in Hwange, Zimbabwe's biggest national park in the northwest of the country, between 2013 and 2015.

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Source(s): AFP