Sixteen Vietnamese ivory smugglers were sentenced to a mere six months of jail today at the Tsuen Wan Magistracy after being arrested on June 10 at the Hong Kong International Airport. They were found trying to smuggle HKD $7.9 million worth of ivory in their luggage.
The ten men and six women, aged between 20 and 54, were found to be carrying a staggering 790 kg of blood-stained, illegal ivory spread between 32 pieces of baggage, according to the Standard and the SCMP.
The smugglers, en route to Cambodia from Angola, no doubt had zero intentions of stopping in Hong Kong. The city has a track record of making massive seizures of illegal wildlife products. In a stroke of good luck for law enforcement agents, and downright awful luck for the criminals, the plane on which they landed in was simply in transit in Hong Kong but because of mechanical problems the plane was grounded. All of the cargo was unloaded and checked by customs officials.
The head of the Customs and Excise airport command said that the passengers seemed “surprised” when they were arrested. If their shock was genuine, then perhaps the jail sentence is a good opportunity for them to mull about the idea that carrying the bloody body parts of exotic animals across international borders is generally a no-no.
The government, which has no idea what to do with their already gargantuan 30-tonne pile of confiscated ivory, started incinerating ivory in May and will continue to do so over the next year.
Photo (of an IFAW-organised ivory crush in London in February 2014) by Laurel Chor
