Inside battle to save sandalwood tree oiling the perfume business

In Nairobi, along Kimathi Street, a perfume vendor calls us for a refill.

He introduces us to a warm, woody, earthy scent perfume which he says is obtained from sandalwood.

It is Kenyan, he says in a bid to woo us to get the 500-milliliter bottle at Sh4,000.

Some kilometres away from the shop, at Kahawa Law Courts, James Wanjohi alongside seven others are arraigned after a lorry was allegedly found with close to 2.5 tons of sandalwood.

Two other vehicles were also impounded with remnants of the endangered tree and allegedly linked to him.

The street value of the goods is Sh3 million. Wanjohi is the most recent person to be arrested but not the only one.

Even with a stiff penalty and a crackdown, the menace does not end.

Section 92 of the Wildlife and Conservation Act provides that once convicted of an offence relating to endangered and threatened species, one is liable upon conviction to a fine of not less than Sh20 million or imprisonment for life or to both such fine and imprisonment.

The highest value of sandalwood case before the court is Sh55 million.

Data reveal that although the number of those arrested is low, the amount of destruction caused is massive.

In the last seven years, security agencies have arrested smugglers with sandalwood worth Sh150 million.

So grave is the situation that in two instances, smugglers were arrested with a total 27.1 tons of the coveted tree.

Data from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) reveals that 31 people have been arrested and arraigned in court since 2014 in connection with trafficking and trading in sandalwood.

The tree is most sought for its oil which is found in the roots and the trunk. Institute for Security Studies (ISS) indicates that a high demand for sandalwood oil in the Asian countries continues to drive illegal trade in Kenya.

A litre of sandalwood oil is said to fetch at least Sh300,000.

“Local youth are paid Sh30/kg for wood and roots harvested from these trees. The sandalwood ‘owners’ – those with rights to access public forests based on their location on community land – are paid Sh300 ($3)/kg of harvest. The wood is removed from the forests on donkeys and stored in local homesteads, where intermediaries transport it to nearby town centres,” ISS report reads in part.

According to ISS, the harvest, especially from Nothern Kenya is moved to either Uganda or Tanzania. 

The Tanzanian route is fed through Samburu county while the endangered species is moved to Kenya- Uganda border through Wamba-Sura Adoru-Suguta-Rumuruti-Nyahururu-Nakuru route.

“The sandalwood is taken across the border to Tororo in Uganda. There, it is semi-processed and exported through the Port of Mombasa to markets in Asia and the Arabian Gulf, such as India, China, Saudi Arabia and Dubai,” it continues.

In the meantime, the battle over the tree before courts seems not to end or deter the trade.  It is believed that lower fines or jail term has kept the illegal trade going on.

For example, David Kithome who had been found with 130 kilos of Flora East African Sandalwood on December 1, 2015, had been fined Sh20 million at the magistrate’s court. The wood was estimated to be worth Sh5,200.

The magistrate’s court in Nyahururu had also ordered that he serve a life sentence in the event he does not pay the fine.

Upon appeal, Justice Roselyn Wendo in 2020 reduced the sentence to eight years in the event he defaulted to pay a Sh1 million fine.

She found that he had admitted before the lower court that he was in possession of the wood but pointed out that he was to use it to light fire.

“The court appreciates that the stiff sentence is meant to deter the offenders who do not care about our wildlife or vegetation which is our very survival.  However, the court ought to be allowed to exercise its discretion in sentencing even in a matter of this nature although the court must exercise the said discretion judiciously bearing in mind the public policy and public interest and the mischief that was meant to be cured when enacting the Act,” said Justice Wendoh.

Kenya’s government banned logging and selling sandalwood in 2007.

On April 4, 2007, after a three-year free for all period of haphazard harvesting of the tree, an executive decree that prohibited its harvesting was declared, but to little effect.

Since then, hundreds of tons of the wood have been recovered and dozens of arrests made.

It has not always been like this though. A 2014 Task Force on Wildlife Security traced the origins of the large-scale harvesting and smuggling to the once ungovernable Tsavo area.

“The harvesting started in the Kyulu hills. Exploitation accelerated and spread to Taita, Amboseli, Kajiado, Narok, Baringo and the Rift Valley escarpments; then to Northern parts of Kenya including Isiolo, Samburu and many other areas across the country. In all the areas, the harvesting is uncontrolled,” reads a report by the task force.

However, not even the scent of the much sought-after sandalwood will be left to tell the story of consistent and methodical cutting of an endangered species.

Prices for the product range between Sh200 and Sh300 per kilogramme depending on the day’s demand.

Sandalwood is exploited for its essential oils used in perfumery. The heartwood of the trunk, main branches and roots contain an essential oil. This oil blends well with many fragrance materials that it has become a common blender-fixative used in numerous perfumes.

The tree grows to a height of 1-6 metres, but the roots are most favoured as the essential oil concentration is highest in them, followed by the trunk. The tree is dioecious (male and female on separate trees). The female is most preferred as it is said to have a better quality of heartwood. Under normal conditions, young trees grow slowly, only gradually developing a core of heartwood.

Experts say the harvesting methods used are highly destructive because the whole plant needs to be uprooted to get the roots, leading to serious depletion of its numbers.

“This form of harvesting undermines its regeneration,” reads the report.

During the peak of the illegal trade in 2005 to 2009, it was believed that the tree was being smuggled into Tanzania using fraudulent documents. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and KFS rangers impounded several trucks carrying sandalwood into the border town of Namanga.

The trees harvested in Kenya were exported through various undisclosed routes to Tanzania. After value addition and semi processing, the products are re-exported to Indonesia, India, South Africa, France, Germany and eastern Asia.

Police reports and multiple interviews paint a picture of how the trade is organised and how the contraband moves from one point to another.

The cutters are at the bottom of the food chain, followed by local middlemen who oversee the cutting and transportation out of the forest.

Then there are the bosses in charge of shipping the wood, mostly in tonnes, out of the country and making contact with overseas markets. This is done in ingenious ways, including storing the harvested wood in police camps or private homes. Transportation is mostly in long haul trucks disguised as charcoal transporters or modified flower trucks.

On November 16, 2023, Magistrate Boaz Ombewa of the Kahawa Magistrates Court freed Calvin Juma Boy, who was the Samburu East Sub County Police Commander after he was arrested for being in possession of sandalwood, narcotics, firearms and ammunition. He was, however, acquitted on all four counts.

Juma was arrested after DCI detectives received a tip off that two police vehicles were parked at his residence loaded with sandalwood.He was arrested alongside Constable Patrick Murigi and Corporal Festus Saha, who were driving the said vehicles.

A case that perhaps gives an insight into the smuggling operation is that of Jackson Mbugua alias Bishop.

Mbugua was arrested on October 6, 2019, within Oljogi Conservancy in Laikipia county, alongside three other men.

Mbugua, David Ndiritu, Daniel Kibe and Jackson Luso were all arraigned at the Nanyuki Law Court and according to the charge sheet, they were dealing in elephant tusks without a permit.

He had also been charged with the illegal transportation of sandalwood on August 25, 2017, at the Nyahururu Magistrates Court.

Of focus by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) was Mbugua, with the agency seeking to have him forfeit his property to the state.

In court, ARA alleged that Mbugua made his wealth from selling sandalwood and animal trophies.

In the application, they wanted him to forfeit his car a Mercedes Benz KBE 416Y, a plot of land in Mathare and a building that sits on the plot.

Justice Diana Mochache of the Kibera High Court while agreeing with the ARA application on February 29, ruled that a caveat be placed on the land to prevent its sale or transfer.

She also ordered that rental income from the building be deposited to ARA’s account and have Mbugua forfeit his car while directing the National Transport and Safety Authority to place a caveat on the vehicle preventing its sale or transfer.

ARA’s Corporal Fredrick Muriuki in an affidavit said that Mbugua after acquiring tusks and sandalwood, he would transport them across Kenya’s borders to Uganda and Tanzania using the car.

He alleged that Mbugua disguised the  illegal business by posing as a charcoal trader.

The corporal claimed that the proceeds of the illicit trade were received by Mbugua through his dollar account and a Kenyan account at Equity Bank.

“Analysis of the accounts statements established that bank accounts were opened and operated by the respondent and that the bank accounts received suspicious huge sums of cash deposited from across the Kenyan borders in Uganda and Tanzania,” said Corporal Muriuki.
He added that after receiving the money, Mbugua would then withdraw and transfer the money to his other bank accounts in Kenya on the same day or a few days later.

From his analysis, Muriuki alleged that between February and July 2017, Mbugua received USD 94,600 (Sh12.6 million at the current exchange rate) in his dollar account and Sh7.5 million in his Kenyan accounts.

The deposits were allegedly made in both Uganda and Tanzania.

“My investigations further established the respondent subsequently acquired massive assets/properties using the proceeds from illegitimate trade in wildlife trophies (elephant tusks) and endangered wildlife species (sandalwood) and registered the same under his name,” noted Muriuki.