Three arrested after Hong Kong customs seizes 7.2 tonnes of ivory from ‘frozen fish’ container in record HK$72 million bust
Male proprietor and two female staff members of trading company in Tuen Mun nabbed
Hong Kong customs officers arrested a man and two women after making the biggest ivory bust in 30 years, seizing 7.2 tonnes of tusks with an estimated street value of HK$72 million.
The smuggling ring attempted to hide the illegal ivory tusks in a 40-foot refrigerated container from Malaysia and covered it up with frozen fish. It was first time customs had seen this method.
The enormous haul is 1.5 times more than the total illicit ivory seized in the past 3.5 years combined, as customs officials netted 4,694kg of illegal ivory between 2014 and last month.
The container, which was declared to contain 7,000 kg of frozen fish in 1,000 cartons, arrived at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound in Kowloon on Tuesday.
Officers believed the shipment was suspicious as the declared goods only occupied half of the total volume and weight that a such as container could carry.