Under a pile of ordinary wood, something extraordinary was discovered. Recently, Xiamen Customs District seized smuggled elephant tusks from within a batch of inbound sandalwood.

On that day, a Xiamen-based firm declared to the Customs for importing a batch of “sandalwood blocks (sub-sandal)” originating in Uganda. When inspecting the cargo, customs officers found big and small brownish-yellow wood blocks piled disorderly in a container. Through thorough inspection, beneath the pile of wood, three plastic woven bags were found with a total of 57 elephant tusks wrapped by tinfoil, weighing 118.814 kilograms in total.

Xiamen Customs seized 57 elephant tusks from within a pile of wood.

Xiamen Customs seized 57 elephant tusks from within a pile of wood.