Authorities hope the country’s first
ivory destruction will help deter smugglers who use the country as a key
transit point
Agence France-Presse
Thursday 14 April
2016 09.53 BST
Last modified on Thursday 14 April 201611.30 BST
Malaysia has
destroyed 9.5 tonnes of elephant ivory that it had seized over the years, in a
move authorities hope will help deter smugglers who have long used the country
as a trans-shipment point.
The huge pile of African elephant tusks,
estimated to be worth $20m (£14m), was first fed into in an industrial crusher
to be pulverised, and then incinerated in a giant furnace in Port Dickson in
southern Malaysia on Thursday.
“This is our first-ever ivory
destruction. We want to send a strong message to the world that Malaysia
The international ivory trade, with rare
exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after the population of African
elephants declined from millions in the mid-20th century to just 600,000 by the
end of the 1980s.
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