Society

Macao customs score $1.25m ivory smuggling bust

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-18 14:07

MACAO - The Customs Service (SA) of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has announced their biggest ivory smuggling bust since 1999, involving an officially estimated value of 10 million patacas ($1.25 million), the Macao Post Daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper quoted a Customs spokesperson as saying that the ivory seized in the operation weighs about one ton. The case was also the first in Macao since 2003, when Customs official confiscated 170 kg of ivory found on a boat.

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According to the spokesperson, Customs officials seized the contraband on the shoreline near the golf course of the Westin Resort in Coloane island at about 1 am Sunday, in a joint operation with the Guangdong Boarder Defence Bureau. Apparently, a smuggling racket had put the ivory there for pick-up by boat.

In the operation, the local Customs officials managed to confiscate one of at least two speedboats used by the smugglers. However, two men who abandoned their speedboat at Long Chau Koc ("dragon claw corner") Bay near the Westin Resort managed to escape.

The contraband seized in the operation consisted of 36 packs of raw ivory wrapped in nylon bags. Three of the bags were sealed by what appeared to be wrap tape of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong, the Customs said.

The contraband also included eight ivory tusks, the longest of which measured about two meters, and two boxes containing 15 pieces of carved ivory, most of them Buddha statues, the biggest measuring about one meter in height.

According to experts, one kilogram of raw ivory has a "street value" of $1,200. Based on the estimated "street value", the spokesperson estimated the value of the ivory seized in Coloane at about 10 million patacas.

The spokesperson said the contraband seized was probably destined for the Chinese mainland and possibly originated from a foreign country, with Macao as the transit point.

Macao will report the seizure to neighboring regions and countries as well as the World Customs Organization (WCO), the spokesperson said, adding that the ivory wound initially be stored by the local Customs for further investigation.