2 Kenya police officers arrested in gov't poaching crackdown

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan wildlife authorities say two police officers have been arrested transporting illegal elephant ivory as the government cracks down on poaching of the country's endangered elephants and rhinos.

Kenya Wildlife Service said Saturday the officers were caught with six pieces of ivory at a road block while travelling from the central Kenyan town of Meru to the capital Friday night.

Last month Kenya's central government said it will oversee the running of the country's wildlife authority for the next three months in a bid to stop poaching of the country's elephants and rhinos.

Poachers have killed 18 rhinos and 51 elephants so far this year. Last year 302 elephants were killed in Kenya, down from 384 in 2012, out of an estimated population of 35,000.