More than 700 pieces of ivory and hundreds of pangolin scales have been discovered inside hollowed out logs in the Ugandan capital Kamapala, authorities said on Thursday, as two Vietnamese men were detained suspected of smuggling.

The illegal cargo was discovered after officers at the Ugandan tax authority (URA) scanned three 20-foot (six-metre) containers carrying timber logs which had crossed the border from South Sudan.

After growing suspicious, a team secretly tailed the cargo to a warehouse in Kampala and made the bust.

"Logs were hollowed out and filled with ivory and pangolin scales then resealed with tons of melted wax to disguise the contraband," URA spokesman Vincent Seruma told AFP.

"In a single container there were more than 700 pieces of ivory and more than 200 pangolin scales but we expect to recover thousands of scales," he added.

The full value of the cargo has yet to be established but the agency estimated at least 325 elephants would have been killed to acquire the ivory.

Seruma said the traffickers were part of a "very dangerous racket" which takes advantage of conflicts in eastern and central Africa to poach endangered species.

The URA said it believed the ivory and pangolin scales had been packed at a smuggling centre in Democratic Republic of Congo.

"These huge consignments often come from DRC or Central African Republic taking advantage of the lawlessness there. The level of smuggling through Uganda is high," Seruma said.

The URA tweeted that the two men arrested will be charged with failing to declare prohibited items and concealment of goods.

"We believe they planned to bribe their way to their final destination so we are investigating the shipping agent and other contractors," the agency said.

The illegal ivory trade is the third most profitable form of trafficking after narcotics and weapons.

Traffic is driven by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks are used in traditional medicine and ornamentation.

Poaching has seen the elephant population fall by 110,000 over the past decade to just 415,000 animals, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The little-known pangolin is the world's most trafficked and poached mammal because of the demand for its meat and scales.

The scales are often used in traditional Chinese medicine and its meat is eaten in several countries in Asia and Africa.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Thai court dismisses case against suspected wildlife trafficking kingpin
Bangkok (AFP) Jan 30, 2019
A suspected wildlife trafficking kingpin accused of smuggling $1 million worth of rhino horns to Thailand has had the case against him dismissed, in a surprise Thai court verdict slammed by conservationists. Boonchai Bach, a Vietnamese national with Thai citizenship, was arrested in January 2018 in connection with the smuggling of 14 horns from Africa to Thailand. His arrest came after police caught an airport quarantine official attempting to remove the horns from the quarantine section of a Ba ... read more