The African Ranger’s phone rings in the middle of the night. Her covert contact deep within the organised crime network of elephant poachers tells her 200 kg of ivory is about to be loaded into a container at the docks bound for the Middle East.

Should she act now to seize the ivory and arrest some of the middle-level criminals or track the container to its destination and use her trusted international law enforcement contacts to map the wider criminal network?

Such are the decisions being taken every day in Africa’s fight against the illegal wildlife trade.

Across the continent, former British military specialist intelligence soldiers are using skills honed in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan to help tackle the poachers and traffickers.

Retarius, a company using experience gained in counter-terrorist operations, delivers specialist training and mentoring to law enforcement and anti-poaching units in Cameroon, Benin and Zambia.

Employing former members of the UK intelligence community, the company seeks to help Rangers build up a picture of the poaching networks using informants and technical means.

“Our experience from tackling terrorist networks for the British army means we’re now able to help the anti-poaching effort,” says Stu Farrag, Director of Retarius.