260kgs Of Ivory Seized At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

About 260kgs of ivory have been seized at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi. The ivory was packed in 12 cartons which also contained carvings and was to be transported to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Deputy Commander, Kenya Airports Police Unit, Douglas Kirocho said the cargo was delivered to the Swissport Cargo Terminal by G4S employees on Thursday and booked for transportation with Turkish Airlines. “When security personnel scanned the packages, they detected a suspicious commodity and that is when we decided to open them today in the morning and check,” Mr Kirocho said. “We discovered that they contained 1,356 pieces that had been painted in black and brown,” he said. Mr Kirocho said the ivory with an estimated street value of Sh33.8 million had been cross-checked by the Kenya Wildlife services. A recent survey suggests the ivory could fetch as much as Sh47 million in Beijing, a prime market.