Cambodia is currently the key transit point for ivory and other illicit wildlife trade for demands in Vietnam and China and amid such scenario the country seized Thursday more than 3.2 tonnes of African tusks which were hidden in a storage container arriving from Mozambique.
It is learned a tip off from the US embassy helped the Cambodian authorities to seize 1,026 elephant tusks at the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port.
The shipment was left unclaimed by any recipient for months at the port.
Director of the Customs and Excise Office at the port Sun Chhay said, “The elephant tusks were hidden among marble in a container that was abandoned.”
he added it is not know whether the shipment was to reach any other country.
In the period of about past five years Cambodia has cracked heavily on such illicit wildlife trade. The largest was in 2014 when about three tonnes of elephant tusks were seized from a container of beans at the southwestern port of Sihanoukville.
Earlier this year about 3.5 tonnes of ivory were seized at Mozambique’s Maputo Port. The shipment was bound for Cambodia.
Last year 7.2 tonnes of ivory tusks were seized in Hong Kong. It was the biggest ever haul of elephant tusks in the world.
Estimation from wildlife campaigners reveal about 30,000 African elephants is killed every year for trade purpose.
International trade in elephant tusks was banned in 1990.
