Three Tons of Elephant Tusks Worth $6M Smuggled From Kenya Seized In Thailand

Three tons of elephant tusks smuggled out of Kenya were seized in Thailand on Monday, making it the second-biggest bust in the country following the previous week’s biggest bust, according to officials.

More than 500 elephant tasks were seized by Thai customs, which are reportedly worth $6 million. The confiscated tusks were supposed to be headed for Laos but were seized upon arrival at a port in Chonburi, an eastern province in Thailand, on Saturday, April 25.

Customs officials have received a tip-off that containers were bound for Laos and Thailand. They tracked these containers, which came from Kenya, according to Somchai Sujjapongse, Director General for Customs Department.

The tusks were reportedly hidden inside a sack containing tea leaves, which were shipped from Kenya on March 24. The shipment has made stops in Sri Lankan, Malaysian and Singaporean ports before reaching Thailand, said Sujjapongse.

Thailand is one of the favourite hubs in Asia for smuggling ivory. In April 21, elephant tusks weighing a total of 4 tons coming from Congo were confiscated. The shipment was also bound for Laos.

Thailand will soon receive international sanctions if the ivory smuggling problem will not be resolved. A possible sanction would greatly impact the country’s trade in various species covered under the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species, or CITES.

According to the WWF, Thailand is host to the largest unregulated ivory market in the world, with supplies coming from poached African elephants. Current law of the country allows legal ivory trade coming from domesticated Thai elephants. Because of this, African ivory makes its way undetected through shops in Thailand.

Elephants are continually being hunted for their tusks. If domestic ivory trade closes in Thailand, there is hope in reducing the threat to elephants in Africa.

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