ID :
156307
Fri, 01/07/2011 - 18:51
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http://m.oananews.org//node/156307
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Seized elephant tusks handed to Thai National Parks Department
BANGKOK, Jan 7 (TNA) - Elephant tusks seized by Thai customs officials have been handed over to Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
The department vowed on Friday (Jan 7) it will intensify measures against smuggled wildlife items. Officials of the Thai Customs Department handed the 69 elephant tusks and four pieces of ivory, worth over 10 million baht, they seized yesterday from a cargo terminal of Thai Airways International or THAI at the country's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport to the department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Sunant Arunnopparat, the department's director-general, confirmed that the seized tusks and ivory pieces had been smuggled from Mozambique by an overseas exporter and destined for Laos, acknowledging that the smuggler is liable up to four years in jail and/or a fine of up to 40,000 baht under Thailand's 1992 Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act.
Sunant said that the smuggler also violates the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and that his department is tracking down the offender; while stepping up measures to prevent wildlife smuggling into the Kingdom, intensifying legal punishments against offenders and joining forces with other Southeast Asian nations to tackle wildlife trafficking. (TNA)
The department vowed on Friday (Jan 7) it will intensify measures against smuggled wildlife items. Officials of the Thai Customs Department handed the 69 elephant tusks and four pieces of ivory, worth over 10 million baht, they seized yesterday from a cargo terminal of Thai Airways International or THAI at the country's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport to the department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Sunant Arunnopparat, the department's director-general, confirmed that the seized tusks and ivory pieces had been smuggled from Mozambique by an overseas exporter and destined for Laos, acknowledging that the smuggler is liable up to four years in jail and/or a fine of up to 40,000 baht under Thailand's 1992 Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act.
Sunant said that the smuggler also violates the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and that his department is tracking down the offender; while stepping up measures to prevent wildlife smuggling into the Kingdom, intensifying legal punishments against offenders and joining forces with other Southeast Asian nations to tackle wildlife trafficking. (TNA)
