Thailand seizes tonne of smuggled African ivory

Feb 26, 2011 |

Agencies

Feb. 25: Thai authorities on Friday displayed a tonne of illicitly smuggled African elephant ivory and rhino horns seized at Bangkok’s airport, a haul described as a victory for better international intelligence sharing among wildlife officials.

The customs department found 118 tusks and 50 additional cut pieces of ivory, along with three rhino horns weighing a total of 2.7 kg are worth more than $1.7 million, said media reports. The tusks were found on Wednesday at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport in 11 boxes declared as crafts, after a roundabout journey from Lagos, Nigeria via Doha, Qatar and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“Nigeria, despite having few elephants within its borders, is a major departure point for poached ivory from Africa,” said FREELAND, a Bangkok-based NGO, that fights wildlife and human trafficking.

The group said the seizure was the sixth law enforcement action against ivory smugglers since an intelligence sharing meeting between Thai and African wildlife officials late last year and that US agencies supported it.

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