2 tons of tusks seized

HONG KONG: More than 1 000 ivory tusks, mainly from baby elephants, were seized by Hong Kong customs in their biggest haul in three years.

The tusks, which weigh over two tons and are worth more than $ 2 million (R19.7m), were discovered at the city’s main port in a cargo container from Togo.

It was headed for mainland China and the bags of tusks were hidden beneath planks of wood. “We profiled a container from Togo for examination. First, we found irregularities at an X- ray check. Then, we opened the container and discovered the tusks of different sizes,” Wong Wai-hung, a customs commander, said.

He added that the tusks were buried underneath planks of wood in the corner of the 6m container, which had been declared as carrying wood only.

More than 1 148 tusks were seized. It was the biggest ivory seizure in the city since 2010. Ng Kwokleung, customs group head of ports control, said: “We saw very small tusks of baby elephants. We were sad because they were killed for nothing.” – Sapa-AFP

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