Sudan busts illegal ivory trading ring

August 6, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan announced on Wednesday a Khartoum police swoop busting an illicit ivory trading ring, seizing more than 470 pieces and arresting an unspecified number of suspects.

The network used a commercial premises as cover for its illicit trade in ivory and other antiquities, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Officers seized 309 ivory sculptures, 147 bracelets and 21 vases, and sacks of other crude items, it added.

No further details were released and police were not reachable for comment.

Since 1989, an international ban has prohibited the sale of ivory in all but exceptional circumstances.

Trade was halted after a dramatic fall in the world’s elephant population, due to poaching for lucrative tusks and the gradual destruction of habitat.

While figures are disputed, the WWF conservation group estimates that there are probably 554,973 African elephants alive, compared to 1.2 million in the late 1970s.

Although ivory sales have dropped markedly in Europe, North America and Japan, the commodity is still in big demand in other parts of the Far East.

The WWF says new demand in China, which is the biggest single buyer of Sudan’s oil, stands behind an increasing trend in illicit trade since 1995.

The conservation group has pointed to a thriving domestic ivory market in Sudan. It says much of the raw material originates in neighbouring countries, particularly the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(AFP)