Thailand seized three tons of ivory hidden in tea leaf sacks from Kenya in the second-biggest bust in the country’s history one week after the biggest seizure, customs officials said today.
The 511 elephant tusks worth $6million (£4m), bound for Laos, were seized upon arrival Saturday at a major port in Chonburi province in eastern Thailand.
The bust came after customs officials received a tip-off in Laos and Thailand and tracked the containers from Kenya.
The bust came one week after customs officials seized 4 tons of tusks that were smuggled from Congo and also destined for Laos. Thailand is one of the top destinations for African ivory smuggling in Asia and could face international sanctions if it doesn’t show progress in com-batting the problem.
The sale of ivory from wild elephants is currently illegal in Thailand, but sale of ivory from Thai domesticated elephants is legal. However, it is impossible to determine whether the ivory products are derived from wild elephants or are coming from ivory from domesticated elephants, and therefore enforcement agencies are currently unable to detect illegal ivory from wild elephants entering the Thai retail trade.
The current demand for endangered species products in Asia is unprecedented and often largely driven by demand for products as a demonstration of economic and social status and also cultural value and beliefs.
Just this year in March
Kenya burnt 15 tonnes of ivory on Tuesday and promised to destroy all of its stockpile this year, the latest step in its campaign against elephant poaching.
Poaching has surged in the last few years across sub-Saharan Africa, where gangs kill elephants and rhinos to feed Asian demand for ivory and horns for use in folk medicines.
A 2014 U.N. and Interpol report estimated that about 20,000 to 25,000 elephants were killed in Africa every year, out of a total population of as many as 650,000.
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