Customs officers at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday seized 43 kilograms of ivory stashed in the carry-on luggage of two female travelers and 2 kilograms of rhino horns hidden against the thighs and stomach of a third woman.
The trio arrived on a flight from Zimbabwe via Dubai yesterday afternoon and were carrying suspected smuggled goods with an estimated market value of HK$1.3 million (US$166,500), according to customs.
The ivory had been wrapped in plastic and hidden within two of the women’s bags. The rhino horn, meanwhile, was covered in plastic tape bundled against her abdomen and thighs.
The trio, aged 20 to 34, were arrested and the case handed to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for further investigation.
Under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting an endangered species without a license faces up to two years in prison and a maximum $5 million fine.
Yesterday’s bust, however, pales in comparison to the 7.2 tons of elephant tusks discovered in June by Hong Kong customs officers in a container shipped from Malaysia and labeled as frozen fish.
That haul, the city’s largest every ivory bust, was worth a staggering HK$72 million (US$9.2 million) and led to the arrest of three people.
Though smuggling protected wildlife products into Hong Kong is a crime, the domestic trade in some ivory remains permitted, at least for now.
The government plans to totally ban the trade, which has long decimated the world’s elephant population, by the end of 2021 as part of a three-step process.
The looming ban’s long timeframe though has been criticized by several lawmakers.
During one Legco session about the issue, a frontline park ranger from the Democratic Republic of Congo delivered an emotive testimony to legislators against the trade in Hong Kong.
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