The 90 kg of ivory seized from a passenger arriving from Thailand from Ethiopia Click photo to enlarge © Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger Control Customs BureauBangkok, Thailand, September 2010—Thai Customs officers at Suvarnabhumi International Airport have seized 90 kilogrammes of ivory from a passenger attempting to smuggle it into the country packed inside four large pieces of luggage.

The suspect, a 62-year-old Malaysian national, had arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Bangkok on 28th August and was stopped at International Arrivals, where Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger Control Customs Bureau officers found 16 pieces of cut ivory in his suitcases.

The Thai Royal Customs has made three large ivory seizures this year at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, including two tonnes in February, 1.4 tonnes in April and close to 800 kilogrammes in July.

Although Ethiopia has made strides addressing illegal trade in ivory in recent years, its airport in Addis Ababa remains a major transport hub through which contraband ivory continues to move.

China, for example, made 139 ivory seizures in 2009 alone from Chinese nationals coming from Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airways flights.

Thailand, together with Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, were identified as the three countries most heavily implicated in the global illicit ivory trade in the most recent analysis of the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), the world’s largest database of elephant product seizure records.

ETIS is managed by CAWT Partner TRAFFIC on behalf of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).