Thai authorities discovered an ivory smuggling ring shipping goods through Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok today.118 elephant tusks that had been shipped from Africa, along with rhino horns and other pieces of ivory were found in crates marked “Crafts”, and were confiscated by Thai customs officials.
Weirdly, although Thailand has its own elephants, ivory coming out of Thailand is big business, which is why African ivory is being shipped in, to fill in the gap in illegal ivory smuggling left by Thailand’s rapidly decreasing elephant population. As Thai officials clamp down on the illegal killing of Thai elephants and try to stop the ivory trade on Thailand’s end though, African smugglers are jumping into the vacuum and killing African elephants in order to cut off their tusks for the ivory.
Thai authorities are asking anyone who has any knowledge of illegal ivory trade, illegal shipment of ivory into Thailand, or poaching of elephants for their tusks to please contact the local police, as saving Thailand’s remaining elephant population has become a priority.