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Home » China Seizes Big Haul of Ivory and Other Rare Animal Products

China Seizes Big Haul of Ivory and Other Rare Animal Products

BEIJING – In a sign that China may be taking a harder line on the trade in wildlife products, police there have seized one of the biggest hauls of smuggled ivory and other rare animal parts and have arrested 16 people, it was reported on Monday. Police in Beijing took possession of 804 kilograms of ivory, 11 kilograms of rhino […]

By SAPeople Staff Writer
13-10-15 13:33
in News
china-ivory

BEIJING – In a sign that China may be taking a harder line on the trade in wildlife products, police there have seized one of the biggest hauls of smuggled ivory and other rare animal parts and have arrested 16 people, it was reported on Monday.

Police in Beijing took possession of 804 kilograms of ivory, 11 kilograms of rhino horn and 35 bear paws, which together are worth more than than $3.8 million, in a series of raids that ran from May to August, news reports said.

The seizure comes after several events showing China may be taking a harder line on traffickers. In February, China imposed a one-year ban on ivory imports, and in September Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to halt commercial ivory sales in China during a state visit to the United States.

In Tanzania last week, a major Chinese player in ivory trafficking in East Africa was arrested and stands to go to jail for up to 30 years for allegedly smuggling 1.9 tons of ivory between 2000 and 2014.

The Chinese news comes at the same time that in India, it was reported that a raid on a Delhi artifact salesman-turned-ivory trader’s house on Sunday led to the seizure of 487 kilograms of ivory, the largest in recent years, for which over 40 elephants could have been poached in three southern states over the last year.