Maputo – Poachers slaughtered 22 elephants in Mozambique in the first two weeks of September, environmentalists said on Monday, warning of killing for ivory by organised syndicates was being carried out on an “industrialised” scale.

Citing data from the southeast African nation’s largest game reserve, Niassa, an advisor to the World Conservation So…ciety (WCS), Carlos Pareira, said “in the first two weeks of September alone we counted 22 elephants that had been killed.”

He was speaking at a meeting of Mozambican officials, law enforcement agents and diplomats in the capital, Maputo.

Mozambique is under pressure from international conservation groups to do more to curb rampant poaching.

Until recently poaching was not considered a crime and those arrested often got off with…