African News Agency : Welcome

Hong Kong, 20 Nov - (ANA) - The authorities in Hong Kong say they have confiscated $ 1.4 million worth of ivory smuggled in a shipping container from Africa, the second large seizure of tusks at the busy port in the past month. Customs officials discovered the 1,330 kilograms (about 2,900 pounds) of illegal ivory in a container from Tanzania that was marked as carrying sunflower seeds, authorities said. The 569 tusks, worth 10.56 million Hong Kong dollars (about $1.4 million U.S.), were in the back of the container, buried under hundreds of bags of the seeds. The Hong Kong government said customs officials are investigating the case and are still trying to find "the smuggling syndicate members." The container had been picked out for inspection based on "risk assessment," authorities said. The seizure follows the roughly $ 3.4 million worth in ivory found in two shipping containers last month, one of the largest amounts ever seized in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is viewed as a transit point for the illegal ivory trade, feeding into increasing demands in China, according to Time magazine. Elephants are being killed in Africa at an alarming rate as international demand soars for ivory. Much of the demand comes from increasingly affluent Asian countries, particularly China and Thailand. (ANA)