Massive ivory haul seized in Togo

Seized ivory tusks displayed by Customs officials in Hong Kong on October 3, 2013.   Photo/FILE/AFP

In Summary

• The seizure is one of the largest ever recorded by the police in the west African nation.

By AFP
More by this Author

LOME

Togo police have seized about 1.7 tonnes of ivory loaded in a container in the port of Lome, the country’s minister of environment and forest resources has said.

The seizure is one of the largest ever recorded by the police in the west African nation.

“Five hundred and fifty ivory pieces and 77 complete pieces of ivory weighing 1,689.45 kilogrammes were hidden in sacks inside a a container loaded with wood destined for Vietnam,” said Andre Johnson.

“The ivory stock was discovered by a joint security task force checking containers in the port of Lome.

BANNED TRADE

“A clearing agent was arrested. Investigations are under way to find members of the ivory traffickers’ network.”

Last August, the police impounded 700.5 kilogrammes of ivory — mostly from Chad — from a shop in Lome belonging to a 58-year-old Togolese national.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned international trade in ivory in 1989.

But trafficking has been on the increase in recent years following a high demand in the Middle East and Asia where elephant tusks are used for the manufacture of decorative objects and in traditional medicine.

A Chinese man was on Tuesday fined Sh20 million or seven years in jail by a Kenyan court for smuggling ivory. The ruling was the first of its kind in the East African nation under new laws seeking to curb the vice. (VIDEO: Sh20M fine for Chinese man who smuggled ivory