BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand seized 3 tons of ivory hidden in tea leaf sacks from Kenya in the second-biggest bust in the country’s history, one week after the biggest seizure, customs officials said Monday.
The 511 elephant tusks worth $6 million, bound for Laos, were seized upon arrival Saturday at a major port in Chonburi province in eastern Thailand. The bust came after customs officials received a tip-off in Laos and Thailand and tracked the containers from Kenya, Customs Department Director-General Somchai Sujjapongse told reporters.
The ivory, hidden among tea leaves, was shipped out of Kenya on March 24 and went through ports in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore before coming to Thailand, he said.
The bust came one week after Thai customs officials seized 4 tons of tusks that were smuggled from Congo and also destined for Laos in what they said was the nation’s biggest seizure.
Somchai said that the tusks seized Saturday were “more beautiful and complete than the previous lot,” and that they would likely have been distributed to buyers in China, Vietnam and Thailand had the shipment reached Laos.