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The suspects allegedly hid the illegally traded elephant tusks in a 40-foot container under frozen fish aboard a ship headed for Malaysia. Customs officials seized the 7.2-ton haul Tuesday at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound in Kowloon. Those arrested at a trading company include one man and two women whose names were not reported.
The seizure comes after China announced a plan to completely outlaw the sale of ivory in 2017. The ivory trade remains legal in Hong Kong, though; the city has developed a reputation as the heart of the global ivory trade, CNN said Thursday.
Hong Kong customs officials display 7.2 tons of ivory elephant tusks, valued at more than $9 million, on Wednesday. The seizure of the illegal ivory led to the arrests of three people.
Trade in ivory has slowed internationally since a 1989 treaty banned it, although Hong Kong shops can still sell ivory which predates the treaty. Conservationists have said traders use the legal trade as a cover to sell newer ivory in China, the largest ivory market in the world, the South China Morning Post reported. "This massive seizure once again shows that Hong Kong is a major hub for illegal wildlife trade," said Cheryl Lo of the World Wildlife Federation-Hong Kong senior wildlife crime officer. "We are calling on lawmakers to end this brutal trade as soon as possible. With over 20,000 elephants killed in Africa every year, there is no time to waste."
Elephant tusks valued at $9M seized in Hong Kong
āFrom today ... the buying and selling of elephant ivory and goods by any market, shop or vendor is against the law,ā the Chinese State Forestry Administration said on its official account on Weibo. āFrom now on, if a merchant tells you āthis is a state-approved ivory dealerā ... he is duping you and knowingly violating the law.ā The agency added that the ban also applied to online sales and souvenirs purchased abroad. According to the Xinhua state news agency, a partial ban had already resulted in an 80 percent decline in seizures of ivory entering China. Domestic prices for raw ivory are down 65 percent, it said.
The total domestic ban was announced at the end of 2016. By March last year, 67 factories and shops involved in Chinaās ivory trade had closed, Xinhua reported. The remaining 105 were expected to close yesterday. China had previously banned imports of all ivory and ivory products acquired before 1975, after pressure to restrict a trade that sees thousands of elephants slaughtered every year.
African ivory is highly sought after in China, where it is seen as a status symbol, and used to fetch as much as US$1,100 per kilogram. Poaching in Africa has seen the elephant population fall by 110,000 over the last 10 years to 415,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Despite an overall fall in poaching, Africaās elephant population has declined in part because of continued illegal killing, said a report this year by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Complete ban on ivory sales goes into effect in China - Taipei Times
Ivory trade banned in China...
Complete ban on ivory sales goes into effect in China
Mon, Jan 01, 2018 - Chinaās complete ban on ivory trade went into effect yesterday, officials said, a major step forward in Beijingās efforts to rein in what was once the worldās largest market for illegal ivory.
āFrom today ... the buying and selling of elephant ivory and goods by any market, shop or vendor is against the law,ā the Chinese State Forestry Administration said on its official account on Weibo. āFrom now on, if a merchant tells you āthis is a state-approved ivory dealerā ... he is duping you and knowingly violating the law.ā The agency added that the ban also applied to online sales and souvenirs purchased abroad. According to the Xinhua state news agency, a partial ban had already resulted in an 80 percent decline in seizures of ivory entering China. Domestic prices for raw ivory are down 65 percent, it said.
The total domestic ban was announced at the end of 2016. By March last year, 67 factories and shops involved in Chinaās ivory trade had closed, Xinhua reported. The remaining 105 were expected to close yesterday. China had previously banned imports of all ivory and ivory products acquired before 1975, after pressure to restrict a trade that sees thousands of elephants slaughtered every year.
African ivory is highly sought after in China, where it is seen as a status symbol, and used to fetch as much as US$1,100 per kilogram. Poaching in Africa has seen the elephant population fall by 110,000 over the last 10 years to 415,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Despite an overall fall in poaching, Africaās elephant population has declined in part because of continued illegal killing, said a report this year by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Complete ban on ivory sales goes into effect in China - Taipei Times
Sales of new ivory has been prohibited in Hong Kong for nearly 30 years under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Merchants have been allowed to sell "antique" ivory imported before that policy went into effect, but critics of the ivory trade say elephant tusks are still imported illegally and then sold legally on Hong Kong streets.
The ban, which passed 49-4, effectively closes that loophole, marking a win for animal rights activists who have advocated for a total ban on ivory sales. "Hong Kong has always been the 'heart of darkness' of the ivory trade with a 670-ton stockpile when international trade was banned in 1989," Alex Hofford, a campaigner with WildAid Hong Kong said in a statement. "With great support from the Hong Kong people, our five-year campaign has finally paid off."
Environmental activists support a ban on ivory outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Although the ban had nearly unanimous support from Hong Kong legislators, some had concerns about the ivory merchants who will soon have their livelihoods criminalized. Liberal Party member Peter Shiu Ka-fai, who voted against the ban, said there are 370 licensed ivory wholesalers with 77 tons of legal ivory and 100 craftsmen who are over the age of 60, the South China Morning Post reported. "This ban has disregarded the interests of the industry," Shiu said. "To expect ivory traders in their 60s to change industries is impractical," he added. "Do you expect them to take online courses?"
Shiu said the government should provide compensation and job re-training for ivory merchants and craftsmen. But other lawmakers, including Civic Party lawmaker and barrister Dennis Kwok, were against compensation and said the ban takes too long to go into effect. "The traders have a long time to get prepared for the prohibition," Kwok said.
Hong Kong legislature votes to ban all ivory sales
