Bangkok, Thailand — In yet another important ivory seizure at
Suvarnabhumi International Airport this year, Customs
officers have apprehended 90 kilogrammes of ivory from a
passenger attempting to smuggle it into the country packed
inside four large pieces of luggage.
The 62-year-old
Malaysian national was stopped at International Arrivals on
the 28th August after Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger
Control
Customs Bureau officers found 16 pieces of cut
ivory upon searching the man’s bags.
The suspect had
arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to
Bangkok. The ivory was confiscated and the case is now under
review by the Customs Department.
The latest seizure
underlines the important role Customs officers play in the
war on illegal wildlife trade.
The Thai Royal Customs has
been at the helm of a string of headline-grabbing ivory
seizures since late 2008. The department also made three
huge seizures this year, netting two tonnes of ivory in
February, 1.4 tonnes in April and close to 800 kilogrammes
in July; all at the Suvarnabhumi International
Airport.
“The Thai Royal Customs is committed to taking
strong measures to ensure that proper legal import and
export procedures under the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora is adhered to
at every check-point across the country especially
Suvarnabhumi Airport,” said Mr. Ekalarp Rattanarut,
Director of Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger Control Customs
Bureau.
Although Ethiopia has made strides addressing
illegal trade in ivory in recent years, its airport in Addis
Ababa remains a major transport hub through which contraband
ivory continues to move.
China, for example, made 139
ivory seizures in 2009 alone from Chinese nationals coming
from Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airways flights.
Thailand,
together with Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo,
were identified as the three countries most heavily
implicated in the global illicit ivory trade in the most
recent analysis of the Elephant Trade Information System
(ETIS), the world’s largest database of elephant product
seizure records.
ETIS is managed by TRAFFIC on behalf of
Parties to the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
“The
Customs officers responsible for this ivory seizure in
Thailand are to be commended, although the fact this trade
continues illustrates that Thailand’s domestic ivory
market remains a serious issue,” said Chris R. Shepherd,
Deputy Regional Director of TRAFFIC Southeast
Asia.
“Unless Thailand starts making ivory seizures in
the marketplace, we fear its ivory trade will
continue.”
“Airlines also need to be increasingly
aware and vigilant in order to ensure they are not used and
therefore implicated in the global ivory trade,” he
added.
