Elephant tusks weighing 262kg were seized at Zurich Airport before they could be shipped to China, the world’s largest ivory market, Swiss customs officials said on Tuesday. Armenpress reports the aforementioned citing the Associated Press.
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Three Chinese nationals – en route from Tanzania to China – were arrested after officials at Zurich airport found the ivory cache stashed in eight suitcases last month.
He said Tuesday that lion claws and fangs also were discovered during what started out as a “routine screening” at Zurich Airport on July 6. The head of the customs operation at the airport, Heinz Widmer, said officials estimate that the pieces came from 40 to 50 elephants.
The ivory has an estimated black market value of up to 400,000 Swiss francs (about $412,000), they said.
Ritschard credited Zurich airport’s “special risk profiling” for the discovery, noting that the three smugglers were picked up while in transit from Tanzanian “ivory hot spot”, Dar es Salaam.
The tusks had been sawed into chunks to fit into the luggage, according to a news release from Swiss customs officials.
Demand from China’s rising middle class has been fuelling illegal trade in ivory. Charges vary, but these men could face steep fines for violating customs and animal protection rules, according to the AP.
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The ivory haul, while large, is below the 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) threshold considered to be a large-scale seizure that indicates the likely involvement of organized crime, said TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring organization.
