illicit-trade-wco-2013

Ivory in passenger’s luggage seized by Nigerian Customs
Photo courtesy of Nigeria Customs
shipped out of the country. The Malawi Revenue
Authority seized 781 pieces (2,640 kg) of ivory from a
truck which was coming from Tanzania. The contraband
was hidden under bags of cement.
In Asia Customs successfully intercepted several multiton
shipments of ivory. Hong Kong Customs alone
seized more than 3,200 pieces (6.5 tonnes) of ivory
shipped in containers from Africa. The containers arrived
from Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria and Togo and
the ivory was hidden under soya, stones and timber.
Singapore Customs and the Agri-Food & Veterinary
Authority worked together to intercept a container with
1,099 pieces (1.8 tonnes) of ivory transiting through
Singapore from Africa. Within three weeks in October
Vietnam Customs seized 4.5 tonnes of ivory at the Port
of Hai Phong. The ivory was concealed inside bags of
seashells and shipped in containers from Malaysia.
In April, Hong Kong Customs seized 113 pieces
(300 kg) of ivory in an air cargo consignment. Through
risk assessment, Customs officers selected the consignment
declared to contain “spare parts” transhipping
from Burundi to Singapore for examination. X-ray images
confirmed their suspicions. Instead of spare parts
the consignment contained ivory. In July, Customs at
Dubai Airport in the United Arab Emirates intercepted
447 kg of ivory sent by air cargo from Zimbabwe. The
ivory was stashed under a wooden sculpture.
Mail and express courier shipments with semi-worked
ivory (cut pieces) and worked ivory (mainly jewellery)
were intercepted at European airports and Hong Kong,
China. The biggest number of parcels arrived from
Nigeria and was bound for China and Hong Kong,
China. Quantities ranged from a few grams up to 20 kg
of ivory (found in a mail shipment from Portugal to
Malaysia). Mainly semi-worked ivory and worked ivory
but also raw ivory was seized from passengers’ luggage
at departure airports in Africa and transit airports
in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and destination
airports in Asia. Most passengers departed from
sub-Saharan African countries and travelled to China
and Hong Kong, China. However, the largest quantity,
116 kg of raw ivory, was found in the luggage of a passenger
departing from Uganda to Nigeria.
Today wildlife smugglers are applying the same
methods and techniques as drug syndicates. If shipped
by air cargo, passenger luggage, express courier and
mail the contraband is artfully hidden inside objects or
in the false bottom of the luggage, wrapped in
aluminium foil and placed in metal containers or mixed
with other organic goods such as fruit and coffee to
avoid detection by X-ray. Ivory is painted to give it a
different appearance and mislead law enforcement
officials. Couriers carry parrot eggs and pieces of rhino
horn in their underwear.
Illegal trade in rhinoceros horns
For 16 years, between 1990 and 2005, rhino poachers
in South Africa have been killing 14 animals on average
each year. In 2008, this figure rose to 83 and, by
2009, the number had reached 122 rhinos. In 2010,
poaching escalated dramatically throughout the year,
near tripling the toll and reaching 333 rhinos killed. The
numbers kept rising in 2011 (448 rhinos) and 2012 (668
rhinos). In 2013 a sad record of 1,004 rhinos killed was
reported 13 in South Africa, while other countries also reported
cases of poaching of rhinos: India, Kenya, and
Mozambique (apparently the last known rhinos in
Mozambique were wiped out by poachers in 2013).
13
Department of Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa, “Update on rhino poaching statistics’’, available at
50