(CN - HKG) Biggest ivory seizure in a decade

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South China Morning Post

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

http://hongkong.scmp.com/hknews/index.html

 

Customs intercepts shipment estimated to be worth HK$2.7m

 

by BENJAMIN WONG

 

A customs officer inspects the haul of ivory, worth roughly $2.7

million, which was allegedly bound for the mainland market.

 

Customs officers seized almost two tonnes of ivory estimated to be

worth $2.7 million hidden in a container that arrived in Hong Kong by ship

from Tanzania, Africa, via India and Indonesia.

Two men and a woman were arrested in connection with the seizure - the

biggest in a decade.

 

Ryan Au Kin-chung, Customs' Divisional Commander of the Marine Strike

and Support Division, said he believed the tusks were intended for the

mainland market, which has Asia's greatest demand for ivory. He said the

tusks were worth about $1,500 per kg but the value would triple to $4,500

per kg after they had been processed.

 

A container truck driver, 54, and two owners of a trading company in

Sheung Wan were arrested. The driver was released after interrogation while

the owners - a man, 51, and a woman, 49 - were each released on $10,000 bail

pending further enquiries.

 

Mr Au said the seizure came following a tip-off. Officers intercepted

a truck while it was leaving the Kwai Chung Container Terminal on Monday.

The tusks were found in one of the two containers it was carrying. They were

well-concealed and officers had to use a sophisticated mobile X-ray vehicle

to scan the containers, he said.

 

The consignment was packed in 47 bags together with wooden logs. The

other container was just filled with logs. Mr Au said the ship arrived in

Hong Kong on Sunday after a month-long journey from Africa via India and

Indonesia.

 

Mr Au said the seizure was about four times the largest made in Hong

Kong last year - a 506kg shipment bound for Zhuhai that was seized on

October 13. Fishing boat skipper Kwok Yun-ming, 39, was jailed in December

for 16 months.

 

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officer Boris Kwan

Sai-ping said yesterday that there were less than 600,000 elephants left in

the world and they had now been classified as an endangered species.

 

Anyone found importing, exporting or in possession of such species or

their parts without a licence faces a maximum penalty of $5 million and two

years' jail.

 

" Since there has been a global ban on the ivory trade since the early

1990s, the number of smuggling cases has fallen. There have only been four

major ivory smuggling cases involving more than 100kg broken by Hong Kong

law enforcers in the past 10 years, " Mr Kwan said.