Major illicit ivory haul seized at Hong Kong port

Elephant tusks worth more than US$1 million were seized by Hong Kong customs after being discovered hidden under bags of soya in shipments from West Africa, officials said last week, according to news reports. Global press agency AFP reported on Friday that the southern Chinese city's border control found 189 tusks in three containers following an “intelligence operation”. "After X-ray examination, the officers found the ivory tusks, weighing 769 kilogrammes (1,695 pounds) in total, in the innermost parts of the containers. The ivory tusks were packed in linen and nylon bags and covered by bags of soya," a Hong Kong government spokesman said in a statement released Thursday. The three six-metre (20-foot) containers arrived at the city's maritime port from Cote d'Ivoire in separate shipments, according to customs officials, who did not specify when the shipments arrived. The seizure came less than two months after the last major haul of 1,000 elephant tusks found in a container from Nigeria, which along with rhino horns and leopard skins also discovered was worth more than $5 million. Hong Kong, a free port which runs one of the biggest container terminals in the world, often sees the seizure of products from banned trades.