Uganda’s UN-supported wildlife forensics lab turns ivory seizures into convictions

The package originated in Entebbe, Uganda, bound for Cairo, containing 10 kilograms of thumb-sized pieces that could have been either bone or elephant ivory.

When detectives from the Uganda Police Force and investigators from the Uganda Wildlife Authority intercepted the package in January 2025, they needed more than suspicion to investigate the person who sent the package.

The police sent a sample to the Uganda Wildlife Forensics and Timber Laboratory in Entebbe, a facility that has been supported since 2019 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Scientists found a distinctive cross-hatched pattern associated with elephant ivory. DNA testing later confirmed that the material came from an elephant, lab manager Patrick Chiyo told UN News.

Two months later, police arrested the man who sent the package. At his residence, investigators found additional elephant ivory, along with warthog ivory. He was charged with attempted trafficking and illegal possession and sentenced to 15 years in prison or a fine equivalent to 140 million Ugandan shillings – or more than $35,000 USD.

For Mr. Chiyo, the case illustrates why forensic evidence matters in the fight against wildlife crime: it can establish what an animal product is when traffickers have cut it into small pieces or removed the physical characteristics that would make it easy to identify.

“Poachers are removing identification features from wildlife carcasses to evade detection,” Mr. Chiyo said.

He added that DNA reports are increasingly being required by Uganda’s wildlife court and that suspects are pleading guilty more often thanks to the lab.

Evidence from the UN’s 2024 World Wildlife Report shows that Uganda is as a significant hub of organised wildlife trafficking networks – especially of elephant ivory but also pangolin, a scaly anteater.

In April, the Uganda Wildlife Forensics and Timber Laboratory opened with support from Denmark, the European Union and UNODC to help address the ivory issue.