BEIJING: Forestry police in Beijing have seized 804.4 kilograms of illegal ivory and other products during a crackdown on illegal wildlife trade, local authorities said yesterday.
Other seizures included 11,3 kg of rhinoceros horn and 35 bear paws, police with the local municipal bureau of landscape and forestry said. The seizure, worth an estimated of 24,39 million yuan (about $43,8 million), was the largest in terms of wildlife products so far.
During the three-month crackdown, lasting from May 21 to August 30, Beijing forestry police travelled to Hebei, Shandong and Guangdong province to track down suspects with the help of whistle-blowers. Among all the 16 suspects caught by the police, 15 were arrested and one was transferred to Shenzhen police in Guangdong. Investigation shows that the ivory was smuggled from Japan to Hong Kong and entered the mainland through the coastal cities of Shenzhen and Weihai.
According to the bureau, illegal wildlife trade has been on the rise in recent years. The bureau has been intensifying its crackdown on wildlife related crimes since 2013, and has confiscated more than 1 500 kg of ivory products worth nearly 50 million yuan.
