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LOME. — A total of 3 815 tonnes of ivory and 22,55 kg of scales of pangolin, hidden in three containers carrying timber headed to Vietnam, was seized on January 23 and 29 2014 at the Lome Autonomous Port, an official source said on Wednesday.
The cargo which belonged to a Vietnamese businessman Dinh Huu Khao who has been living in Lome since 2011, was intercepted when it was being loaded in the ship to be illegally transported to Vietnam.
The latest interception brings the total quantity of ivory seized at the Lome port between August 2013 and January 2014 to 4 556 tonnes.
“This Vietnamese, instead of exporting timber or cashew nuts as he had indicated, exports ivory,” Togo’s Security and Civilian Protection Minister Yark Damehame lamented when he addressed the press on Tuesday.
The minister said the ivory and scales had been obtained “through poaching and killing of protected animal species.”
The seizure follows reinforcement of safety measures by the Togolese police, after 6.34 tonnes and 2 183 tonnes of ivory, coming from the Lome port, were respectively seized on December 10, 2012 in Malaysia and July 18, 2013 in Hong Kong. — Xinhua.
Online Reporter