BANGKOK
More than 3,000
kilograms of elephant ivory have been found at a Thai port stashed in a
container shipped from Kenya, customs said Monday, the second huge haul
of tusks from Africa in less than a week.
The
discovery, which would be worth millions of dollars on the black market,
was destined for Laos, where the illegal ivory trade flourishes.
Some
511 pieces of ivory, weighing 3,100 kilograms, was found on April 25 in
a container "marked as tea leaves transported from Mombasa, Kenya, and
on to Laos", Thai customs said in a statement.
Scores of whole tusks — some nearly two metres long — were among the pieces seized.
A
record four tonnes of African elephant ivory was seized at Bangkok's
main port on April 20, in a container that arrived from the Democratic
Republic of Congo and was also destined for Laos.
Once
in neighbouring Laos, authorities believe the ivory would likely be sold
on to buyers from China, Vietnam or back into Thailand, countries where
ivory ornaments are coveted despite fears the trade is pushing wild
elephants to extinction.
'MAJOR TRANSIT POINT'
Laos
"is increasingly being used as a major transit point for such large
volumes of illicit ivory and other wildlife products", Chris Shepherd of
conservation group TRAFFIC told AFP.
"The increase in
large-scale seizures is of great concern. Whether the ivory is coming
from freshly killed elephants, or from stockpiles of ivory in Africa,
needs to be investigated," he added.
Conservationists
say poaching and conflict has destroyed large numbers of African
elephants in the wild, prompting experts to warn the species could be
wiped out within decades.
Thailand has launched a crackdown on the ivory trade amid mounting international pressure.
Global
regulator Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has threatened an international ban on
Thailand's entire wildlife business if it fails to curb the trade in
tusks on its soil.
Under Thai law, registered ivory
from domesticated Thai elephants can be sold. But experts say that
loophole allows criminal gangs to launder poached African ivory through
the kingdom.
Thailand's fishing industry is also under scrutiny for exploitation of migrant workers and over-fishing.
Last week the European Union threatened to ban Thai fish imports unless the kingdom does more to halt illegal fishing.
Thailand is the world's third largest seafood producer and an EU ban could cost it around $1 billion annually.
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