1500
pieces of ivory shipped from Togo
December 2012 - Royal Malaysian Customs have made their largest ever seizure of
ivory in transit through the country, finding 1,500 pieces of tusks hidden in
wooden crates purpose-built to look like stacks of sawn timber.
Shipped from Togo en-route to China
The ivory, stashed in ten crates which were divided between two containers, were shipped from the port of Lomé in Togo and were headed to China, the Selangor State Customs Director Dato' Azis Yacub said. The shipment also transited through Algeciras in Spain before it headed for West Port in Port Kelang, one of Peninsular Malaysia's busiest container terminals.
Specially
made secret compartments
The two containers, declared to be carrying "wooden floor tiles acajou", were held on December 7th and inspected a few days later. After removing the top layer of the crates, officers found the ivory in a secret compartment measuring about one metre deep. A Malaysian company based at the port is being investigated and if convicted, the company could face up to RM500,000 in fines and individuals a maximum of five years in jail, or both.
The two containers, declared to be carrying "wooden floor tiles acajou", were held on December 7th and inspected a few days later. After removing the top layer of the crates, officers found the ivory in a secret compartment measuring about one metre deep. A Malaysian company based at the port is being investigated and if convicted, the company could face up to RM500,000 in fines and individuals a maximum of five years in jail, or both.
Togo
is a major link in ivory chain
Togo is known to be a major source of ivory exiting Africa. Although it has never reported a seizure to ETIS (the Elephant Trade Information System, managed by TRAFFIC on behalf of Parties to CITES), the country is regularly implicated in reported seizures.
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