Kuala Lumpur - A total of 159 kilograms of ivory were seized by customs officers at the country's international airport last weekend, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Two Vietnamese men, who came from Ethiopia on the way to Hanoi, were detained Saturday after their luggage contained 101 kilograms of ivory, according to Kuala Lumpur International Airport customs chief Chik Omar Lim.
Another set of bags containing 58 kilograms of ivory was recovered by customs officers but they failed to arrest the owner of the luggage, believed to be another Vietnamese man, Chik Omar added.
“The two men were arrested at the arrival hall after customs officers detected suspicious items when scanning their luggage,” he said. “Our initial investigations showed that the suspects entered Malaysia through [Angolan capital] Luanda and [Ethiopian capital] Addis Ababa.”
Ivory is almost entirely banned from international trade under the CITES convention, and cannot be brought to Malaysia without a permit from the Wildlife and National Parks Department.
DPA