He is certainly not a poacher, nor an international smuggler of valuables, and even less of a thug. But Paolo Brondi, a Piedmontese who travels back and forth from Italy to Watamu, where he would plan to settle a few months a year, now faces a very heavy penalty for possession of an ivory figurine weighing about six hundred grams.
Brondi, who is well known among the Italians stationed in Watamu and considered a decent person who has found like many in Kenya a place to relax and enjoy a prolonged vacation, was stopped a few days ago upon arrival at Mombasa's MOI International Airport with the valuable ivory necklace and, after being detained by local authorities, admitted that he was its owner and that he had brought it specially from Italy but that since it was a worked object (with a sculpture depicting himself, as reported by the TV channel K24 news site with an estimated value of 17 thousand euros) he did not think it was a crime.
In fact, Kenya punishes the possession and trafficking of ivory, both with regard to elephant tusks or pieces of them, and with regard to worked and semi-processed items that are not properly reported and have certificates attesting to their age and provenance.
Already in the past, there have been cases of seizures and fines for those who failed to report historical hunting trophies or other wildlife relics (including ivory), and the Kenya Wildlife Service had issued an ultimatum to all owners of objects or parts of land or sea animal species that it is illegal to capture and possess (except precisely for ancient objects duly reported in times of no suspicion).
Now Brondi, who has already appeared a first time before Mombasa Judge Martin Rabera and pleaded guilty to the charge of possessing a trophy wildlife of endangered species, contrary to Section 92 (4) of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, will have to appear in court hearings in Mombasa to explain exactly how and where he got that ivory in the hope that Kenyan authorities will understand his good faith and his terrible naiveté that led him to ignore not only Kenyan but international laws.
Because the penalties for detaining and trafficking ivory can carry up to 20 years in prison.