CHINA: Hong Kong customs seize ivory worth US$ 1.5 million in soya shipments from Ivory Coast

Record ID: 182377

  • Title: CHINA: Hong Kong customs seize ivory worth US$ 1.5 million in soya shipments from Ivory Coast
  • Date: 3rd October 2013
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (OCTOBER 03, 2013) (REUTERS) IVORY HAUL LAID OUT AT NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF IVORY TUSKS VARIOUS OF ENGRAVED TUSK BALANCED ON SACK OF SOYA BEANS LARGE POLISHED TUSKS RAW TUSKS DIVISIONAL COMMANDER, CONTAINERISED CARGO EXAMINATION, WONG WAI-HING, HEAD OF PORTS AND MARITIME COMMAND, VINCENT WONG, AND ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION OFFICER, DR AZARIA WONG, AT MEDIA CONFERENCE CUSTOMS LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIVISIONAL COMMANDER, CONTAINERISED CARGO EXAMINATION, WONG WAI-HING, SAYING: "Customs officers, through risk assessment, selected three shipments declared to contain soya arriving from Cote D'Ivoire, Africa, for inspection. After X-ray inspections, officers found a total of 769 kilogrammes of ivory in the innermost parts of the containers." IVORY HAUL VARIOUS OF BAGS CONTAINING SOYA VARIOUS OF PHOTOS OF CONTAINERS CONTAINING CARGO (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PORTS AND MARITIME COMMAND, VINCENT WONG, SAYING: "At this moment we don't have concrete information but we notice that they involve, their involvement in Hong Kong is very limited. And all of these tusks, they do not originate from Hong Kong. They originate from Africa or African countries. And they transhipped through another country, in this case Malaysia. And then, Hong Kong demand for this ivory is minimum." WONG BEHIND MAP OF ROUTE MAP OF ROUTE (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PORTS AND MARITIME COMMAND, VINCENT WONG, SAYING: "Actually, we bust this syndicate and this is the fourth case (this year). And also Hong Kong has a very sophisticated infrastructure and a very busy port. The smugglers may think they have a chance, as in this case. They changed their operandi. They changed the point of receipt, different origin. They used different concealment methods and they used different shipments. They tried different methods. To conclude, they tried everything, they tried to think out of the box to try to evade customs inspection." VARIOUS OF HONG KONG CONTAINER TERMINAL (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Crime,Environment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2PGT7VR8E39MHZPT66JTCYJO8
  • Story Text: Hong Kong Customs seized 769kg of ivory worth around US$1.5 million in a series of anti-smuggling operations from late September, they said on Thursday (October 03).
    Through risk assessment, officers found 189 ivory tusks in three containers claiming to contain soya from Ivory Coast, Africa.
    "Customs officers, through risk assessment, selected three shipments declared to contain soya arriving from Cote D'Ivoire, Africa, for inspection. After x-ray inspections, officers found a total of 769 kilogrammes of ivory in the innermost parts of the containers," said Divisional Commander of Containerised Cargo, Wong Wai-hing, at a news conference.
    The ivory tusks were not declared on the manifests and were seized by customs officers for further investigation.
    The Head of Ports and Maritime Command, Vincent Wong, said follow-up action is ongoing to locate the smuggling syndicate members who are believed to be from abroad.
    "At this moment we don't have concrete information but we notice that they involve, their involvement in Hong Kong is very limited. And all of these tusks, they do not originate from Hong Kong. They originate from Africa or African countries. And they transhipped through another country, in this case Malaysia. And then, Hong Kong demand for this ivory is minimum," said Wong, adding that the shipment was probably destined for China or another nearby country.
    Hong Kong Customs participated in a World Customs Organization operation in 2012 and is committed to continuing to take vigourous enforcement action against the trafficking of endangered wildlife, Mr Wong added.
    "Actually, we bust this syndicate and this is the fourth case (this year). And also Hong Kong has a very sophisticated infrastructure and a very busy port. The smugglers may think they have a chance, as in this case. They changed their operandi. They changed the point of receipt, different origin. They used different concealment methods and they used different shipments. They tried different methods. To conclude, they tried everything, they tried to think out of the box to try to evade customs inspection," said Wong.
    Customs administrations around the world have heightened their awareness in combating illegal trade in wildlife with a special focus on animals controlled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, such as elephants and rhinoceroses from Africa.
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