HK SEIZES RM40M WORTH OF IVORY TUSKS
Haul found in container from Malaysia
AUTHORITIES in Hong Kong this week made their largest haul of contraband ivory in more than 30 years, amid surging illegal wildlife seizures, fuelled by lax regulations and buoyant demand from mainland China.
The former British colony is one of the world’s top global transit hubs for endangered species and their products, such as shark fin, pangolin skin and rosewood furniture.
Customs officials yesterday said they had seized 7,200kg of ivory tusks, valued at about HK$72 million (RM39.6 million), at a cargo warehouse near the harbour.
The ivory was discovered in a 40-foot container from Malaysia declared to hold frozen fish.
“The 1,000 boxes were halfempty when we found them with frozen fish around the ivory,” said Customs official Raymond Chan.
Conservation group WildAid estimated the tusks had been taken from about 720 elephants.
Hong Kong’s agriculture, fisheries and conservation department said it was investigating the shipment’s final destination, probably a nearby country.
A special administrative region of China, Hong Kong has lagged behind other places, including the mainland, in adopting tighter rules against trading of ivory and other endangered species.
Regulatory loopholes allow traders to use a stockpile of legal ivory as cover to smuggle illegal ivory to unsuspecting buyers, said groups, including the World Wildlife Fund and WildAid.
China, Singapore and the United States have banned the ivory trade, with the mainland closing down all operations year end.
Hong Kong, however, has only timetabled a ban by 2021. Legislators are to discuss the issue today and decide if traders should be compensated in the case of a total ban.
The teeming port city has the largest retail market for ivory, with 90 per cent of consumers from the mainland.
Hong Kong has been trading ivory for more than 150 years, fashioned into jewellery and sculptures, but activists said illegal poaching was pushing elephants towards extinction.
The independent Environmental Investigation Agency last week identified Shuidong, a southern Chinese coastal town near Hong Kong, as the hub for up to 20 Chinese-led criminal syndicates bringing in ivory from Africa.
African rangers detailed harrowing tales of elephant poaching during a visit to Hong Kong last month, an event marked by a tense standoff with traders who said their business was legal. Reuters