Dec 14, 2011
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian customs officers have seized 15 tons of African elephant tusks and ivory products worth some 4 million ringgit (1.3 million dollars), officials confirmed Wednesday.
The goods were seized from a container at Port Klang, in the central state of Selangor, on Monday following a tip-off, an officer with the department said.
On Tuesday, customs director Azis Yacub announced that the seizure was the biggest haul yet of ivory products, adding that smugglers were using Malaysia as a transit point for their products to be shipped to countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and China.
'The goods had come from Mombasa in Kenya and were headed for Sihanoukville, Cambodia when we intercepted them,' Azis was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.
'They use our ports as a transit point, believing that the final port would not have a strict inspection,' he said.
Azis said officers discovered the elephant tusks packed together with handicraft items which were declared as soapstone, adding that the seized items would be sent for testing to confirm that they were made of ivory.
Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1680669.php/Malaysian-customs-seize-15-tons-of-African-ivory.
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian customs officers have seized 15 tons of African elephant tusks and ivory products worth some 4 million ringgit (1.3 million dollars), officials confirmed Wednesday.
The goods were seized from a container at Port Klang, in the central state of Selangor, on Monday following a tip-off, an officer with the department said.
On Tuesday, customs director Azis Yacub announced that the seizure was the biggest haul yet of ivory products, adding that smugglers were using Malaysia as a transit point for their products to be shipped to countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and China.
'The goods had come from Mombasa in Kenya and were headed for Sihanoukville, Cambodia when we intercepted them,' Azis was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.
'They use our ports as a transit point, believing that the final port would not have a strict inspection,' he said.
Azis said officers discovered the elephant tusks packed together with handicraft items which were declared as soapstone, adding that the seized items would be sent for testing to confirm that they were made of ivory.
Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1680669.php/Malaysian-customs-seize-15-tons-of-African-ivory.
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