Ivory smuggling attempt foiled

Customs authorities at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh foiled an attempt to smuggle African ivory. The ivory was found hidden in the luggage of passengers arriving on a plane from an African country, according to customs officials.
The director general of customs at KKIA, Mohammed Al-Dakhil, told Arab News that the transit passengers of an African carrier, landed at the Riyadh airport to continue their trip to an East Asian country. “Customs officers found a quantity of elephant tusks during a routine check,” Al-Dakhil said.
It was discovered that the smugglers had tried to transport 588 pieces of ivory of different shapes and sizes with a total weight of 490 kg concealed inside the luggage of 18 passengers.
The authorities said that necessary action would be taken against the smugglers.
Poaching of African rhinos is increasing to meet demand from Asia, where the horn has long been used in traditional medicines for a variety of ailments, including fever and rheumatism.
Thousands of elephants are also killed across Africa very year for their tusks, which are prized especially in China for use in making decorations and trinkets.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the African elephant population has dropped from between three million and 5 million to approximately 400,000 over the past century.
In January, authorities in the African nation of Togo found 3.8 tons of ivory in port containers bound for Vietnam.

Drug smuggling
In another development, the Kingdom’s border patrols in the Arda sector arrested 10 smugglers in three different security operations. The smugglers— six Yemenis and four Africans — were trying to smuggle hashish in small bags from Yemen across the Saudi-Yemen border.
Border Guards deputy spokesman Maj. Hassan bin Badr Al-Gosaibi said that members of a security patrol saw a group of people walking from Yemen to Saudi Arabia. On being challenged, they fled, taking advantage of the hilly terrain. However, the patrol fired a number of warning shots, and eventually caught them.
Two of the Africans were caught red-handed carrying the contraband on their backs.