Kenyan authorities seize illegal ivory, rhino horns
Aug 23, 2010, 15:05 GMT


Nairobi - Kenyan authorities have arrested two people on suspicion of trying to smuggle over two tonnes of illegal ivory and five rhino horns to Malaysia, the Kenya Wildlife Service said Monday.

The tusks, which were mainly taken from 150 elephants who had died natural deaths over the last 20 years, were hidden in 12 wooden boxes listed as containing avocados, the KWS said.

The nationalities of the suspects, arrested Sunday night at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, were not revealed.

The ivory trade has been banned since 1989, but illegal sales have thrived with demand being fuelled largely by the Far East.

Kenya's elephant population plummeted from 153,000 to 19,000 over the fifteen years prior to the ban. It has since recovered to around 35,000.

However, poaching is on the rise again, KWS said. Some 204 elephants were killed by poachers in Kenya last year, compared to 47 in 2007.