£7m ivory haul found in frozen fish
SPILLING across the floor, this mountain of elephant tusks represents the biggest haul of ivory for 30 years.
The £7million, seven-ton seizure includes tusks from around 720 elephants who were killed brutally for their valuable ivory.
Their tusks can fetch £850 a kilogram on the black market.
The cache was discovered hidden underneath frozen fish in a 40-ton container that a major smuggling ring had brought into Hong Kong from Malaysia.
A man and two women have been held over the haul – the biggest in Hong Kong’s history. More arrests are expected. The huge seizure underlines Malaysia’s and Hong Kong’s importance to the international trafficking of ivory.
While it is illegal to import or export ivory through Hong Kong, its sale on the island is not illegal. Officials have pledged to phase out the trade by 2021.
Dozens of shops can sell ivory that has not left Hong Kong since the ban was imposed. However, conservationists have accused traders of using legal sales as a cover to sell newer ivory, especially to mainland China, which is believed to be the biggest ivory market in the world.
The global trade in elephant ivory has been outlawed since 1989. There are thought to be 415,000 elephants in Africa, although 30,000 are killed illegally each year. The population has fallen from millions in the 1950s. Ivory is prized in China, where tusks are used in traditional medicine.
Heather Sohl, of the wildlife charity WWFUK, said: ‘This huge seizure – possibly the largest ever... is just the tip of the iceberg.’