Two nabbed for carrying contraband

Source:Global Times Published: 2013-3-20 23:38:01

Authorities have arrested two people accused of bringing banned items made of ivory and rhinoceros horn into the country, Shanghai Customs said Wednesday.

Shanghai Customs caught two Chinese passengers carrying 11 items made of rhinoceros horn, weighing 12.98 kilograms in total, according to a press release from the Shanghai Customs. They were also found holding 36 items made of ivory weighing 42.38 kilograms. Shanghai Customs said the items were worth 5 million yuan ($805,000). The passengers said they had bought them from auction houses and antique shops in Paris.

Shanghai Customs has seen an increasing number of smuggling cases in recent years involving items made from endangered animal parts.

In 2012, the Shanghai Customs found 5,055 items made of endangered animal parts, twice the amount found in 2011. On March 2, Shanghai Customs arrested a man carrying six pieces of pure ivory, four ivory sculptures and two ivory bracelets at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The items were worth 1.7 million yuan. It has found 839 such items in passenger luggage in January and February 2013, triple the number found during the same period last year.

Currently, about 25,000 rhinoceroses remain in the wild. Their horns can fetch between $33 and $133 per gram.

Chinese law prohibits people from carrying products made of endangered animals without related import and export certificates.

Global Times

 



Posted in: Society, Metro Shanghai

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