BANGKOK: Thai authorities seized 422 pieces of elephant tusks and arrested a Gambian man suspected of smuggling the ivory.
Customs Department Director-General Kulit Sombatsiri said that the tusks were hidden in a shipment listed as unprocessed gemstones. He said the parcel was examined because items from Malawi are regarded as high-risk for smuggled goods and because an ivory seizure last year had involved tusks from Mozambique that were similarly concealed.
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Kulit said Friday’s seizure of 330 kilograms (726 pounds) of smuggled ivory worth around $480,000 was the first in Thailand this year.
Thai customs officials last year confiscated more than 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of ivory in nine separate cases.
