Macau police nab elephant tusks

Smuggling of ivory to Asia remains a problem

MACAU, China -- Macau marine police have seized nearly 92 kg of ivory, including tusks believed to have come from a baby African elephant.

Five full tusks and five pieces of tusk, weighing a total of 91.95 kg, were discovered in a wooden crate at Macau International Airport, a marine police spokesman said.

The tusks, flown to the former Portuguese enclave from Bangkok about two weeks ago, were believed to have traveled by ship from Africa to Thailand, he said.

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Police checked the crate after the forwarding agent asked that the shipment, labeled as topaz stones, be returned to Thailand.

The market value of the contraband was not immediately known.

Macau is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which banned ivory trading worldwide in 1989 in a bid to save the declining elephant population.

However, smuggling of African ivory, particularly to Asia, remains a problem.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Macau Government
Macau Government Information Bureau
The Convention on International Trade in endangerd Species
CITES Official Site
Ivory

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