- Title: SWISS-IVORY/SEIZURE Zurich airport customs seize record 262 kg of ivory
- Date: 4th August 2015
- Summary: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 4, 2015) (REUTERS) LAKE EXTERIOR OF ZURICH AIRPORT PLANES ON TARMAC PHOTOGRAPHERS AND CAMERAMEN / IVORY SEIZED BY ZURICH CUSTOMS VARIOUS OF IVORY TUSKS VARIOUS OF IVORY TUSKS IN SUITCASES ZURICH AIRPORT CUSTOMS OFFICE CHIEF HEINZ WIDMER BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZURICH AIRPORT CUSTOMS OFFICE CHIEF, HEINZ WIDMER, SAYING: "We started
- Embargoed: 19th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Switzerland
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA4TU9MQMVZ2Z6CSHW4TQB4KANE
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Zurich airport customs seized a record 262 kg of ivory in eight different suitcases during tourist checks at the beginning of July, the customs chief announced on Tuesday (August 4).
The inspections were carried out on July 6 on two suitcases that had been checked in in the Tanzanian city of Dar Es Salaam, and which were travelling to Beijing.
Policy requires checks to be made on luggage coming from the city, allowing customs officials to make the discovery.
"We started to search the passengers, and which passengers are travelling together with the same tickets, and then we found in the system that three Chinese people are travelling together and they have in total eight suitcases," Zurich airport customs office chief Heinz Widmer said.
He added that 172 separate pieces of ivory were discovered including tusks from baby elephants and sawn up tusks from adult elephants which were barely concealed wrapped in paper. Some small ivory sculptures had been put in hand cream jars.
"We haven't had any such big seizure, we only have had very small seizures, usually a couple of kilos, or five kilos, ten kilos, but never such a big amount, so we think it has been tried to open a new route, which now hasn't worked," Mathias Lortscher of the federal office for food safety and veterinary affairs said.
The seizure worth almost $413,000 is the biggest ever carried out by Zurich airport customs.
Widmer said the pattern of hiding smuggled goods in several different suitcases hoping that a few pass by unnoticed is a technique associated with drug smuggling.
The three Chinese citizens have been sent back to China, but they face substantial fines in Switzerland.
Ivory trade falls under the Washington Convention, and its importation to Switzerland is prohibited. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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