Customs officers deliver HK$62 million blow to smugglers after seizing container on its way to mainland China full of ivory and pangolin scales sent from Nigeria
- Wildlife products believed to be wanted for Chinese medicine and high-end sculptures
- Seizure was biggest of its kind according to Customs and Excise Department
More than HK$62 million worth of elephant tusks and pangolin scales have been confiscated by Hong Kong customs from a shipping container that arrived from Africa this month.
The illegal wildlife products were believed to be destined for mainland China, for use in traditional medicine and high-end sculptures.
The haul included more than 8.2 tonnes of scales believed to have come from thousands of endangered pangolins, with an estimated street value of HK$42 million. It was the biggest seizure of pangolin scales, by value and weight, ever in the city, the Customs and Excise Department said.
The operation also came amid increasing seizures of wildlife products last year with the quantities seized increasing more than threefold to 270,000kg.
The scales were found along with more than 1,000 tusks, which weighed about two tonnes. Worth more than HK$20 million, the tusks were the largest haul of ivory since a record HK$70 million ivory seizure in 2017.
